Health officials are taking steps to help address B.C.’s fentanyl crisis.
Vancouver Coastal Health is applying to set up another five supervised injection sites in the city, similar to ones at Insite on the Downtown Eastside at at the Dr. Peter Centre in the West End.
Chief medical health officer, Dr. Patricia Daly, says applications will be made to the federal government by the end of the summer.
B.C. has experienced an unprecedented rise in overdose deaths with more than 300 this year alone. More than half of those deaths are attributed to fentanyl.
“We want to expand supervised injection services,” said Daly. “We are not considering additional stand-alone supervised injection sites like Insite, rather we want to offer these services in locations where we’re already serving a large number of clients who use injection drugs.”
“Right now we’re looking at five potential locations in Vancouver and we intend to develop applications and submit them to Health Canada for exemptions, hopefully this summer.”
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The BC Association of People on Methadone and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users told The Canadian Press last week that they want to see a more concrete plan to help save the lives of drug users on Vancouver’s streets.
They would like the federal government to follow the example set by Insite.
The locations of the possible five sites have not been disclosed at this time.
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