Days after the latest toxic drug alert in Victoria, the Doctors for Safer Drug Policy marks its first anniversary with two unsanctioned overdose prevention sites adjacent to Royal Jubilee Hospital and Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
The two healthcare facilities are the usual sites for the independent group of addiction medicine physicians and their supporters as they push the province to establish hospital-based overdose prevention services.
“Hospital-based overdose prevention sites not only save patients’ lives, they also protect hospital staff. By providing a safe, supervised space for substance use, we mitigate potential harms to staff from exposures to second hand smoke and paraphernalia, and reduce public drug use in the community. This intervention has been proven, time and again, to keep us all safer,” co-founder Dr. Kelsey Roden said in a news release.
As Doctors for Safer Drug Policy approaches its one-year anniversary, the group remains committed to holding policymakers accountable.
“We will not stop advocating for evidence-based solutions for our patients. The opening of these unsanctioned overdose prevention sites reflects the urgency of the crisis and the need for immediate, life-saving action when governments fail to respond,” says co-founder Dr. Jessica Wilder.
This time, they are anticipated to operate outside of the Victoria hospital 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. over the weekend and the Nanaimo site 11 a.m to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Overdose-prevention sites are monitored locations where individuals are permitted to use their own illicit drugs, with medical staff on standby to administer first aid if required. Sites were planned for three Vancouver Island hospitals in 2024, when the government put the work on hold pending the development of minimum service standards.
B.C. Emergency Health Services has seen a 110 per cent increase in annual overdose events since the public health emergency for toxic drugs was declared in 2016.
Overdose and drug-poisoning calls are trending down in B.C., but calls increased by five per cent in Victoria in 2024, according to BCEHS data. Last year, the city saw 2,381 overdose calls, the third-highest in the province, just behind Vancouver, which had 9,564 calls, and Surrey at 3,335 calls, according to BCEHS data. In total, B.C. saw 40,543 calls – down about four per cent compared to 2023.
“It is unconscionable that we are facing another era of health care austerity in the face of the worst and longest-running public health emergency in our history,” said Ryan Herriot, one of the doctors who co-founded the group. “The government will try to distract the public by pointing to other work they are undertaking. None of that seriously grapples with the toxicity of the drug supply and none of it eliminates the need for widespread overdose prevention services, both in health care settings and throughout our communities. Give us what we need to keep our patients and neighbours alive, and to re-connect them to care.”
Island Health issued alerts of drug poisoning spikes in Campbell River on Sept. 18 and Greater Victoria on Sept. 24.
For safer drug use, Island Health recommends visiting an overdose prevention service, not mixing substances, carrying naloxone, staggering use with a friend and getting drugs checked.
Anyone using alone can call the National Overdose Response Service at 1-888-688-6677. For more information on supervised consumption sites and drug-checking services, visit islandhealth.ca.
