Kelowna council calls on province for greater substance use recovery services

City council in Kelowna is calling on B.C.’s government to increase its investment in on-demand mental health treatment, withdrawal management and substance use programs throughout the province.

In a resolution set to go to the Southern Interior Local Government Association, Kelowna is looking for support from other municipalities in asking the province to update its Pathway to Hope strategy.

The updated strategy should include, according to the resolution, a plan to fully fund and establish regional campuses of care that will provide a safe, stable and compassionate environment for people requiring highly specialized mental health support with severe mental illness diagnoses.

Coun. Ron Cannan said that the need for such services was driven home to him during an encounter on the street one day.

“He asked me for $20 and I asked him ‘Do you need something to eat?’ and they said ‘no,'” Cannan said.

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He apparently was looking to get better, but needed a fix of an undisclosed drug first, which prompted Cannan to take the person to a health clinic to see if help was immediately available.

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There, he and the person were told that there was no bed available, but they should come back the next day to see if one opened up.

“In some cases, it’s a week wait and then they detox — it’s five to seven days — and then after that, there’s another lull of 10 days to two weeks to get treatment,” Cannan said.

“So there’s really missing links.”

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Coun. Loyal Wooldridge said he’s also been hearing about the gaps in service and the limited access to needed resources.

“It’s kind of a standard one size fits all in terms of supportive housing,” Wooldridge said.

“These resolutions speak to having different types of housing available for people to be able to choose. Whether it’s folks that are choosing that low barrier option or those that are seeking more abstinence-based housing as well.”

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Cannan said the move toward adopting the “Portugal system,” for drug users means more than just decriminalization of illicit substances for private use, which the province is doing now.

There, the approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities, and housing and treatment options were included.