Pubdate: Fri, 09 Dec 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Stephanie Ip
Page: 8

B.C. RESPONDS TO OPIOID CRISIS BY SETTING UP SIX NEW OVERDOSE SITES

The two new overdose prevention sites announced Thursday for Vancouver
aren't meant as permanent supervised injection sites, but are an
emergency response to the current opioid overdose crisis, health
officials say.

On Thursday, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake announced in a statement
that two new sites had been set up in Vancouver and were
up-and-running as of Thursday, with another two each in Victoria and
Surrey that will follow later this month. Additional sites throughout
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and another in Victoria's Rock Bay
area, will also come at a later date, though specific addresses for
those sites haven't yet been announced. All will be located in areas
identified as having high numbers of overdoses.

"There's a lot more work to do, but this signals people are willing to
start that work," said the Overdose Prevention Society's Sarah Blyth,
who is among those who have been stationed at a pop-up supervised
injection site in an alleyway near InSite, a legal supervised
injection site.

The sites are described as indoor places where drug users can be
supervised for overdoses by those trained in administering Naloxone.
Of the two new locations in Vancouver announced Thursday, one is at
VANDU's storefront at 380 East Hastings St., while the other is at the
Portland Hotel Society's Washington Needle Depot at 177 East Hastings
St. Both were established with the support of Vancouver police and
city council.

At a news conference, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall
spoke about the necessity of the new sites, noting the B.C. Coroners
Service has alerted his office to expect another dramatic increase in
overdose-related deaths in November. October saw 63 illicit-drug
overdose deaths provincewide, and had already brought 2016's total
across B.C. to 622, a 56.7-per-cent increase over 2015's recorded 397
deaths, which has been the province's highest to date. Of the 622
deaths recorded in the first 10 months of the year, 60 per cent were
fentanyl-related.

"We are at a stage where we are not doing sufficient enough work,"
said Kendall. He also noted it's been a challenge to know exactly how
much has been spent combating the overdose crisis in B.C. since the
effort is being taken on by multiple health authorities, but he
estimates about $43 million has been spend so far this year.

He maintains the sites aren't supervised injection sites and don't
require federal approval, noting the sites simply allow for
interactions that would have occurred in any case outside in an alley,
to happen inside a warm and safe venue.

"What we are doing here is trying to save lives," he
said.

Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical officer with Vancouver Coastal
Health, noted there are still active applications filed with Health
Canada seeking approval to set up sanctioned supervised injection sites.
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