Latest news with #supervisedconsumption
CTV News
4 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Scrutiny for supervised drug consumption site in Victoria's ‘Downtown Eastside'
Tents are seen on Pandora Avenue in Victoria, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. (Chad Hipolito / The Canadian Press) VICTORIA — The value of a supervised consumption site in the heart of Victoria's most downtrodden neighbourhood is under debate — is it a life-saving tool, or a magnet for drug dealers victimizing those in an encampment on the site's doorstep? Victoria Coun. Marg Gardiner said the facility is a draw for both 'those addicted to drugs and for drug dealers, who prey on the weak and ill among those encamped' in the three blocks along Pandora Avenue. 'It's Victoria's Downtown Eastside,' she said in an interview, likening Pandora to the Vancouver neighbourhood plagued by crime, poverty and addiction. Gardiner tabled a motion that went before council this week asking Victoria to formally request Island Health to close the facility, along with a second nearby facility, by Aug. 31. The council put off any request and the issue was deferred until Nov. 6. Mayor Marianne Alto said time was needed to gather evidence for a 'well-informed discussion' about a 'very complex' issue like supervised-consumption sites. Gardiner's motion was prompted by a presentation to council last month from Dr. Reka Gustafson, Island Health's chief medical health officer. Gustafson said the 'vast majority of people who use substances' are not using the Pandora facility, adding that about 80 people are using inhalation services at the site each day. 'The estimated number of people who use opiates in British Columbia is 225,000,' she said. 'So, I think it's really important that the overwhelming majority of people, who use substances and who are dying from toxic substances aren't the people, who are visible to us, aren't necessarily the individuals, that we often talk about.' For Gardiner, Gustafson's comments mean that users of the facility 'tend to be regular clientele' while 'most of those encamped on the 900 block of Pandora do not seek' out the facility. Island Health did not directly respond to a request for an interview about Gustafson's comments but provided a statement describing the value of the consumption site. Many consider the 800 to 1,000 blocks of Pandora Avenue the epicentre of Victoria's homelessness challenge with multiple tents and other sleeping structures set up along its sidewalks. Bicycles and shopping carts loaded with belongings are parked nearby. Portable fencing has been set up to separate the encampment from a nearby church and other businesses. Alto said delaying Gardiner's motion would give the city time to implement its recently approved Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, which includes several items to address that section of Pandora Ave. The mayor earlier this month announced the plan that would pour $10.35 million into more police and bylaw officers, temporary housing and cleanup as it tries to reduce crime, homelessness and addiction. The supervised consumption site, known as The Harbour, first opened its doors in June 2018 as Victoria's first such facility under a federal exemption to the Controlled Drug and Substances Act that is set to expire in 2027. The facility supervises people who consume drugs through their nose, mouth, injections and inhalation, so that they can receive immediate treatment in case they overdose. It also provides safer drug use supplies, drug testing, harm-reduction supplies and harm-reduction education among other services. Island Health, which operates the facility in partnership with Lookout Housing and Health Society and Solid Outreach Society, said in its statement that the facility is part of 'evidence-based health services that reduce adverse outcomes and death for people who use substances.' Island Health said the facility received about 3,000 visits from 445 different people in June. It said three drug poisonings happened inside the facility with no deaths or adverse events last month. Preliminary information from the BC Centre for Disease Control shows that Island Health's seven overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites have averted an estimated 2,140 deaths between January 2019 and October 2024. As of June 10, 2025, Greater Victoria has recorded 36 overdose deaths, down from 161 in 2024 and 175 in 2023. Gardiner said in an interview that she knew the likelihood of council supporting her closure motion was 'quite low,' but defended it by saying that the 'general public has to know what is going on' on Pandora. She said she believes the consumption sites are not working, and she suggests they should be closed entirely, rather than moved elsewhere. The supervised consumption sites have failed, Gardiner said, especially against the backdrop of the deadly opioid fentanyl, which she said was a 'game-changer' in Victoria's drug subculture. 'The normalization of illicit drugs is harmful to individuals, who fall victim to drug addiction,' she said. 'It's harmful to their families, and it's harmful to society at large. If this council is committed to a safer city, it must do more than increase enforcement, while supporting illicit drug use behind closed door, because that is what we are doing.' Alto said during debate that deferral of the motion gives time to discuss the future of the facility, not just with Island Health, but also with the province and other actors in the health field, including public health officials. She said they'll be able to gather some evidence to have a 'well-informed discussion' and allow them to perhaps adjust the motion. 'I will say that I have already been in conversation with a number of those people, including (B.C. Health Minister) Josie Osborne,' Alto said Thursday, adding that Osborne had signalled a willingness to continue the conversation on improving the situation along Pandora Avenue. Gardiner opposed deferral, saying that she does not 'want to wait another two years' before Victoria makes a decision. Island Health didn't comment on the deferral. 'Island Health is aware of the recent motion before Victoria city council,' it said in its statement. This report by Wolfgang Depner of The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2025.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Why London's supervised drug-use site can't serve clients who smoke illegal drugs
As London police move to crack down on illegal drug use in public spaces, the operator of the city's supervised drug consumption facility is frustrated Ontario rules don't allow them to supervise the smoking of illegal and often deadly drugs, including fentanyl. Speaking on CBC's London Morning on Friday, London police Chief Thai Truong explained the force's new approach to dealing with public drug use. Instead of arrests and enforcement, Truong said officers will first engage drug users in conversation to let them know what they're doing is illegal, and where they can get addiction treatment. "[Officers] are going to ask them to stop using those drugs, and they're going to direct them to a safe consumption site," Truong said. However, under the funding framework for Ontario's supervised consumption sites, only injecting, snorting or swallowing drugs are permitted at the sites. Although smoking is now cited in many studies as the most frequent way people consume illegal drugs, London's supervised consumption site can't provide supervision for people who inhale substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl. It's a situation that frustrates Martin MacIntosh, executive director of Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, which operates London's Carepoint and Counterpoint Harm Reduction Program at 446 York St. "Inhalation remains one of the most common modes of drug use," said MacIntosh. "Yet people who inhale substances are often left without options to use indoors. As a result, people are using outdoors in public spaces, alleyways and doorways, and ultimately this increases the risk for overdose and growing public safety concerns." Smoking room would be 'absolutely vital' Carepoint would like to have a ventilated smoking room so they could prevent overdoses in clients who smoke substances, MacIntosh said. "Having that service available within our community would be absolutely vital," said MacIntosh. "I think that if we're serious about addressing public drug use, we have to consider safe spaces for all modes of consumption, not just injection." CBC News reached out to Ontario's Health Ministry for comment about the rules but did not receive a reply on Friday. Across Ontario only Casey's House — a specialized HIV hospital in Toronto — has a sanctioned supervised consumption site for clients who smoke illegal drugs. Casey's House built an enclosed room with windows for observation and a high-powered ventilation system so staff aren't exposed to the smoke. Dr. Edward Kucharski, chief medical officer of Casey's House, said the smoking room came in response to a rise in smoking as the preferred way to consume street drugs. It's a trend that began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now about two thirds of the drugs consumed at Casey's House are smoked instead of snorted, injected or swallowed. "For many of our clients it's their preferred approach to substance use," he said. "By allowing them to use their drugs in a safe area, where they can be observed to make sure they don't overdose, is fundamental." Kucharski said clients have shifted away from injecting drugs, in part to avoid transmission of HIV and other diseases. Also, intravenous users often develop vein health problems, which can complicate HIV treatment. Casey's House is able to avoid provincial rules against offering inhalation because they're donor-funded and don't rely on provincial funding. They also operate differently than a supervised consumption site in that clients have to be registered to access the service. The centre does have an exemption from Health Canada from federal drug use laws. But they are one of only two sites with that exemption in Canada which also have approval to supervise drug inhalation. The other is Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Is Chinatown safer without a supervised consumption site? Neighbours say no
Chinatown residents see a surge in public drug use 3 minutes ago Duration 5:09 Social Sharing When Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced last August a plan to shut down 10 supervised drug consumption sites, she singled out the one in Ottawa's Chinatown for special attention. Jones said violent crime was way up in the area around the Somerset West Community Health Centre, adding she didn't want Ontario's neighbourhoods to be "just a place for people to use drugs." But in the two months since that supervised consumption site closed down, many neighbours say they now feel less safe as drug use has moved out of the facility and into the open. Catherine Caldwell lives about two blocks away on Spruce Street. She said she didn't feel unsafe before the closure, but this spring feels worse than ever. Neighbours are finding more drug paraphernalia on their property, their backyards are getting trashed and they're facing harassment, according to Caldwell. "It's starting to escalate and spiral and feel a bit more unsafe," she said. Her neighbour Olivia Vietorisz isn't sure she can keep living on the street where she grew up. She feels like she can't leave her house without seeing public drug use. Last month, she found a crackpipe in her child's stroller. "What would have happened if they had gone in there and picked it up?" she said. "That's scary to me, and it's to the point where we feel unsafe in our own home." Closing our safe consumption site didn't make anybody here safer. - Catherine Boucher, Dalhousie Community Association Lesley Robertson, who lives on Rochester Street, said she sees more public drug use and more activity that looks like dealing. "It's unfortunate because the safer consumption site was a place where people could go and consume drugs in a safer way," she said. "And now it's clear that people are doing it in other places." Zach Melanson, who lives just around the corner from the centre, said he's noticed more drug use activity spilling out into the surrounding neighbourhood. "While we don't feel more or less safe after the closure, it doesn't feel like it's making the difference that it's intended to make," he said. Catherine Boucher, president of the area's Dalhousie Community Association, said the issues have spread beyond the immediate vicinity of the community health centre. "Closing our safe consumption site didn't make anybody here safer," she said. 'A scary time' CBC found a group of people congregating next to the community health centre last Wednesday, including several smoking from glass pipes. They said they, too, feel less safe. In their view, the closure has heightened the risk of overdose and prompted people to share equipment such as pipes and needles. "Since Somerset West closed two months ago, I feel like I'm going to be found in my apartment when people start smelling me 'cause I've died in my apartment alone 'cause I no longer have the safety of Somerset West to use," said Angel McNeely. "It's been a scary time for all of us." The crowd was back on Thursday. Christopher Breton said he uses Dialaudid, morphine, cocaine, crystal meth, Ritalin, methylphenidate and fentanyl. Since the centre closed, he's been doing it outside on the street. He said the supervised consumption site saved people on a daily basis. Now it's up to him and his naloxone kit. "I've stopped 20 overdoses just the past two months since the centre's closed," he said. "If it weren't for the centre, I'd have been dead a long time ago. They've stopped me overdosing several times. "It's a big worry that someone I know, or myself, might pass away from an overdose," he said. 'A perfect storm' Somerset West Community Health Centre's harm reduction services were not limited to a supervised consumption site. The centre also offered a needle exchange, and physicians prescribed opioid medications to drug users as part of an approach known as safer supply. The province forced the centre to close down all those services. The reality is, drug users are going to use drugs. Getting rid of a space that's safe for them to do so isn't a solution. - Catherine Caldwell, nearby resident "I think we're seeing more challenges than we had before because we lost our resource in the community," said Caldwell. "The reality is, drug users are going to use drugs. Getting rid of a space that's safe for them to do so isn't a solution. It just allows private enterprises to come in to fill those gaps." That's precisely what happened when Northwood Recovery moved to Chinatown, setting up two blocks away from the community health centre within weeks of the closure. It offers safer supply by prescribing Dilaudid to fentanyl users, but it doesn't offer a supervised injection site and lacks the extensive social supports available at the community health centre. Many neighbours said those two factors — the closure of a public service and the arrival of a private one — are combining to make matters worse. "With the weather warming up, a new clinic prescribing safe supply in the neighbourhood and the closure of the safe consumption treatment site, we've seen a surge of concerning activity in the neighbourhood," said Ryan Turley, a member of the Dalhousie Community Association who spoke in his capacity as a neighbour living around the corner from the centre. "If the objective of the closure of the safe consumption site was to make the neighbourhood safer, I don't think it's had that intended effect." Boucher called it a "perfect storm" for the community. "They're not a publicly funded health support like Somerset West is," she said of Northwood. "It's not their job to ensure that people have affordable housing or have treatment for whatever other physical ailments they may have, or mental health issues." Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster used exactly the same language. "We are in the midst of a perfect storm in Chinatown," she said. The arrival of the Northwood clinic means people can still access opioids through safer supply, Troster noted, but without a safe place to use them. "We're seeing a high degree of drug diversion," she said. "We're finding needles, pill bottles, all sorts of things spread out through the neighborhood and people using drugs on public and private property. It's a neighborhood that's already had a lot of challenges in this regard, and it's really just made things worse." Dr. Suman Koka, the physician who runs Northwood Recovery, declined to comment for this story. Paramedics fear closure will add to risks The province said its new approach, known as homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hubs, will prioritize community safety. It offered the shuttered supervised consumption sites a chance to transition to HART hubs, and Somerset West accepted the deal. Suzanne Obiorah, the centre's CEO, said they've already launched a first phase of HART hub services including meals, recreation, introduction to treatment options and referrals. There's also access to a nursing team. She said a second phase of services will begin this summer. At that point, the HART hub will offer eight different mental health and substance abuse treatment options. Eventually, it will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Obiorah said the HART hub shows a lot of promise, but it can't fully replace what was lost when the consumption site closed. "We need a continuum of services and supports to address this toxic drug crisis," she said. "So removing one of those critical supports in that continuum or in that spectrum creates great risk and gaps in our community." She said there isn't yet sufficient data to assess the impact of the closure, but she's not surprised that neighbours are noticing more public drug use. While there are other supervised consumption sites in Lowertown and Sandy Hill, Obiorah doubts many of those who relied on her centre west of Ottawa's downtown are willing to travel that far to use. "We have removed an option for people to use safely under supervision indoors," she said. The Ottawa Paramedic Service hasn't waited to step up its presence in the neighbourhood, adding an advanced care paramedic to the area in January in anticipation of the closure. Paramedic James Taylor is working that beat. He responds to high-acuity calls, patrols the streets and checks in on the homeless population to see if he can help. He said he responds to between four and eight overdoses per shift. So far, none have proven fatal. He has also noticed the uptick in public drug use, but said it's hard to pull apart the role of seasonal variations, the closure of the site and other factors. Like Obiorah, paramedics are waiting for more hard data. But Taylor is worried the loss of the supervised consumption site will add to the risks. "It is one of my fears," he said. "Now that we have less medical staff overall watching over these people, we're going to have to rely on the public bystander to walk by that sidewalk to see that person overdosing, whereas before they were in a safe, supervised consumption site." Mixed feelings The provincial health ministry defended the decision to close the supervised consumption sites, saying they were dangerously close to day cares or schools. Ema Popovic, a spokesperson for Jones, said the move responded to "serious safety concerns" raised by parents and communities. She said the the $550 million investment in HART hubs will help people break the cycle of addiction while ensuring the safety of communities. Some residents agree. Support for the supervised consumption site is not universal in Chinatown. Nick Sydor lives on Spruce Street and agrees that this spring seems worse than ever, but he sees it as one more step in a steady decay in public order initially fuelled by the supervised consumption site at the community health centre. "I think that the safe injection site was a significant contributor to the deterioration of order in the neighborhood," he said. "I think that since the safe injection site opened, it became a magnet for drug use and for drug selling." In his view, the new private clinic has only added to the issues. He said the provincial government should create a buffer zone around the new HART hub, restricting safer supply of any kind to give patients there a chance to get off drugs. But Troster wants to see more services in her community, not fewer.
CTV News
08-05-2025
- CTV News
Inside London's Carepoint consumption site
As part of International Harm Reduction Day, officials have released a new video of London's supervised consumption site.
CBC
07-05-2025
- CBC
Community groups accuse VPD officers of loitering outside supervised drug consumption sites
A collection of groups that work in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside say there's been an increase in police officer presence outside Insite and other supervised drug consumption sites in the neighbourhood, resulting in people being deterred from accessing harm-reduction services. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has a policing strategy underway meant to crack down on organized and violent crime in the neighbourhood — which includes more officers. But a spokesperson said it's a "false narrative" that officers are loitering outside the harm-reduction sites. The claim comes from Police Oversight With Evidence and Research (POWER), a research project founded last year by Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS). Pivot Legal Society is also calling on the VPD to avoid having a presence outside the sites. "Being present outside, without any sort of call is, we would say, doing more harm than good," said Caitlin Shane, a staff lawyer with Pivot. According to Shane, in the last few months, POWER has received an increase in complaints from staff at Insite and other supervised consumption sites about police either blocking entrances, loitering or parking VPD cars outside. "What we're hearing, particularly from service providers, as well as patrons, is that this police presence is deterring people from accessing the life-saving services inside," she said. The anecdotal accounts of the effects of police presence at the sites are supported by peer-reviewed research into the issue, published in 2019 in the International Journal of Drug Policy. The groups included two specific examples in their media release. Both are reports from March of a VPD cruiser being parked outside Insite, in the 100-block of East Hastings Street for an extended period. Two of the provided images appear to show unoccupied vehicles, while a third appears to show one of the same vehicles with headlight on. "The notion that a parked and unoccupied police car would deter somebody is, quite frankly, silly," said VPD's Sgt. Steve Addison on Tuesday. "The narrative these organizations are spinning to the media is detached from reality on the streets." Shane maintains that whether or not a police vehicle is occupied, it can have an impact on the number of people using the facility — and she claims it's part of a broader pattern in recent months. Informal agreement? According to Shane, there's an agreement in place between staff at Insite and the VPD to not block the entrance or otherwise deter access. She's asking that the agreement be honoured and formalized. Addison, speaking on behalf of the police department, said he's not aware of any such agreement. Shane said there's internal correspondence from VPD and Pivot in 2022 confirming the existence of the informal policy for officers not to block access to supervised consumption sites, but the fact that Addison isn't aware of it reinforces the need to formalize it. According to Addison, officers are supportive of the harm-reduction facilities and "have a tremendous amount of compassion" for the people struggling with drug addiction in the community. Last year, 2,253 people were killed by unregulated drugs in British Columbia, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. "We encourage people to use supervised consumption sites, harm-reduction sites, as opposed to using on the street, but it hasn't been an enforcement priority for many, many years for us to arrest, jail, prosecute people in the Downtown Eastside who are living with substance use issues," said Addison. Task Force Barrage Addison said that since mid-February, the policing strategy in the Downtown Eastside, dubbed Task Force Barrage, has included an increase in officers in the neighbourhood, Chinatown and Gastown — and perhaps that could explain the increase around supervised consumption sites. "Just by virtue of the fact we've got more officers out there, you're going to see more there," he said.
