‘It’s about saving lives’: Supervised drug consumption site proposed for Richmond
Posted January 30, 2024 3:15 pm.
Last Updated January 31, 2024 11:29 pm.
A Richmond city councillor is tabling a motion next week to look into establishing a supervised drug consumption site to help address the ongoing unregulated toxic drug crisis.
The motion, heading to council next Monday, says supervised consumption sites provide a safe and controlled environment for people to use drugs, reducing overdose and risk of death. It explains health officials are stationed at the sites to provide medical assistance, and they are also trained with naloxone to help reverse opioid overdoses.
The province is almost eight years into a public health emergency, with the BC Coroners Service saying at least 13,794 people have died since the drug crisis was declared in April 2016.
In 2023, 2,511 people lost their lives to the toxic unregulated supply, marking the highest yearly drug-related death toll ever reported to the coroner. Only one of those deaths occurred at a supervised consumption site, according to the coroner.
Richmond councillor Kash Heed, who is behind the motion, is proposing the site be stationed within the Richmond General Hospital precinct.
“What we have had for decades now has been proven to not work,” said Heed.
“It’s about time that we had all levels of government get involved to make sure we don’t have the tragedy of 2,511 people dying on our streets or in our homes because they are using drugs alone.”
The site would also connect drug users to other services, like treatment and counselling, and provide them a chance to build relationships with facility staff. It’s also a chance for people to be provided with sterile equipment, safe disposal options, and testing for bloodborne diseases.
Heed explains the sites are part of a “continuum of care” for a complex public health issue.
“Public drug policies should not push drug users into unsafe areas such as alleys and hidden alcoves, instead they should establish safe places to consume drugs. Many of these people have no place to live so they are outdoors and visible, living in tents or lying on benches, in doorways or alleys as this is their living space, all in the public eye,” he wrote.
“(These sites) provide a non-judgmental and supportive environment, offering a compassionate response to a complex health issue.”
The site would also combat stigma and misconceptions with educational resources and a community awareness campaigns, he adds.
“It’s a matter of explaining to everyone what these sites are meant to be and what they could be,” said Heed.
“Not only from a cost perspective, and the savings for health care and the criminal justice system, it’s about saving people’s lives,” he added.
Heed says it’s time to try something different.
“We have to do it to see if it makes a difference,” he said. “And based on my studies and my practices previously, this will be one part of the puzzle that’s needed to deal with the chronic and sad situation we are in.”
DJ Larkin, executive director with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, says a new site would be good for the City of Richmond.
“A site in Richmond would mean less public drug consumption, less litter, less likelihood of communicable disease transmission, and fewer deaths,” Larkin said.
The motion will be brought forward at a general purposes committee meeting on Feb. 5, and then it will go to council. Heed says he hopes the motion will be approved unanimously.
With files from Kate Walker.
