83 new treatment and recovery beds to open in B.C. this summer

Another 83 treatment and recovery beds are expected to open across the province this summer, adding to another 97 that have already become publicly-funded in the past year.

The B.C. government touted the “record expansion” in a Thursday press conference, one day after the chief coroner revealed more than 2,500 people had died from the toxic drug crisis in B.C. in 2023.

“Our vision is that no person should have to wait for detox, no person should have to wait for treatment — when you have that moment in your life where you’re ready to make a change that there’s someone there with their hand out saying, ‘I’m here to help you,'” Premier David Eby said.

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Last year, the province committed to opening roughly 100 publicly-funded treatment beds. Thursday’s announcement, however, brings that total to 180.

The majority of them already existed but were privately-funded, Eby added. Bringing them into the provincial fold means patients will save “thousands of d0llars.”

“We know that this is not sufficient in itself. We are building out a full network of care and support across the province for people who are struggling with addiction,” the premier said.

The beds will be in facilities with proven track records of patient care, offering a variety of services such as counselling, medication management and live-in support. They will be administered by the Canadian Mental Health Association’s B.C. Division.

“As many pathways as there are to addiction, we have to provide as many pathways out,” Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside added.

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Since a public health emergency was declared over the overdose crisis in April 2016, nearly 13,800 people have died in B.C. That figure doesn’t include the countless thousands who have been injured by toxic drugs.

According to Lisa Lapointe, B.C. chief coroner, fentanyl has been detected in 86 per cent of the deaths between 2017 and 2023. The powerful opioid — often coming from illicit overseas markets — is the primary driver of the crisis, she said Wednesday.

“Prescribed safer supply is simply not able to address the scale of the public health emergency in which we find ourselves,” she said. “One million people in our province don’t have access to a family doctor, never mind the focused and specialized expertise needed to address a public health emergency of this magnitude.”

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For many months, unregulated drug toxicity has been the leading cause of death in B.C. for people between the ages of 10 and 59, surpassing murders, suicides, natural diseases and accidents. It takes an average of six to seven lives in the province each day.

In December, the expert death review panel struck by Lapointe’s office recommended B.C. adopt a prescription-free model of safer supply in order to ensure the greatest possible number of people in need could access alternatives to the toxic street supply.

The B.C. government has come under fire for refusing to implement that suggestion, emphasizing the value of the prescription-based model as outlined in recent research published in the British Medical Journal. It found people with an opioid-use disorder who were prescribed a day or more’s worth of opioids in B.C. were 61-per cent less likely to die the following week than those who did not.

The province is also appealing a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision to block the introduction of its legislation restricting public drug use. That legislation would have banned drug use at beaches, sports fields and parks, as well as within six metres of a bus stop or entrances to businesses and residences.

It was supported by many mayors across the province, who cited increased crime, and health and safety concerns.