Overdose prevention kits to be stationed at all Richmond civic buildings

Within a couple of weeks, overdose prevention kits will be available for use at all Richmond civic buildings.

It comes as Richmond city council voted Monday night in favour of Coun. Kash Heed’s motion to stock the buildings with things like Naloxone.

Heed said he was shocked the measure wasn’t already in place in the city.

“I’ve got to tell you, I was very surprised to learn that we didn’t have this available in our civic buildings, similar to what we have for the automated external defibrillators that are available for public use.

“We’ve got an epidemic that’s been happening for many, many years, and we’ve got to do whatever we can do to save people’s lives.”

The city aims to have the kits available in its buildings, like the Olympic Oval, within two weeks.

“People are at risk of getting into this crisis. And we’ve got to do whatever we can to administer whatever we can to revive an unresponsive person who is overdosing,” he said.

The vote comes as the BC Coroners Service says more than 2,000 people were killed by the unregulated, toxic drug supply in the first 10 months of this year.

The service says 189 people were killed in October, with the BCCS sharing in a release last week that it was the 37th consecutive month where at least 150 people were killed by toxic drugs.

The BCCS earlier this month urged the province to “immediately pursue” expanded access to safer supply as a new report on toxic drug deaths found many of them have been “largely preventable.”

Shortly after this call, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside made it clear that the province will not pursue a non-prescription approach to safer supply — the key recommendation from the BC Coroners Service toxic drug death review panel.