B.C. orders review of vending machine dispensing clean harm-reduction supplies

The provincial government has ordered a review into a program offering clean harm-reduction supplies for drug users in a vending machine outside Nanaimo General Hospital after a BC Conservative candidate criticized the program.

At a press conference Tuesday, Premier David Eby said the complaints about the vending machine caused him to ask the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction to do a review of “any of the distribution methods that don’t involve direct contact between a service provider and somebody struggling with addiction.”

Eby said the vending machines were dispensing harm-reduction things like Narcan, clean pipes, and naloxone.

Leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, John Rustad, said it is “appalling and irresponsible to have a vending machine handing out drug paraphernalia outside a hospital.”

“This is yet another example of the BC NDP’s disastrous approach to public safety and healthcare. Under David Eby’s leadership, we are seeing dangerous policies that promote and normalize hard drug use, even in places meant for healing,” he said in a statement.

A Downtown Eastside advocate, Sarah Blyth, said it’s important to reevaluate what is being done in the province relating to the drug crisis, but the most important thing is to get naloxone into the hands of people who need it.

“We need to make sure that lifesaving disease-preventing needles and harm reduction supplies are easily available to people,” she said.

She said people must take a look at the reasons why people using drugs need to get clean and safe supplies.

Province announces new ‘Opioid Treatment Access Line’

The province also announced Tuesday that a new toll-free telephone-based health service will help those addicted to opioids access life-saving resources faster and even same-day treatment.

The province said this line is for immediate assistance from a dedicated team that includes doctors and nurses who can prescribe life-saving medications that run seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

It said that, along with providing medication, the callers will also be connected with an ongoing treatment team in their communities for long-term care.

“Dedicated nurses will help make sure people are getting the longer-term care they need. The service is confidential, the treatment is covered under BC PharmaCare,” the province said in a release.

The Premier’s special adviser on healthcare, Penny Ballem, said opioid agonist treatments can reduce the harmful symptoms of opioid use, but people face challenges getting prescriptions.

“Through this new telephone service, people from anywhere in B.C. can quickly and easily get an assessment and be prescribed the treatments they need to start their healing journey,” she said.

Co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm Leslie McBain took to social media to express her disappointment with the new access line. She said she wants the province to find alternative solutions.

“What you’ve provided is a phone line – the cheapest way possible for someone to try to get help. A phone line!! And as we all know there is not enough beds, or enough therapists or addiction doctors to help people when they need it,” McBain said in an X post.

Very disappointing. What you’ve provided is a phone line – the cheapest way possible for someone to try to get help. A phone line!! And as we all know there is not enough beds, or enough therapists or addictions doctors to help people when they need it.

— Leslie E McBain (@leslie_mcbain) August 27, 2024

The province said that the opioid agonist treatment is the “recommended first-line treatment for people with opioid addiction and has been shown to help people stabilize their health and lives, stay in treatment, stay away from toxic opioid use, and start a path to recovery.”

“As an addiction-medicine physician, one of the great frustrations is the missed opportunities to provide care for someone when they are ready to ask for help,” said Dr. Andy Ryan, addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital and medical director of the Road to Recovery program at Providence Health Care, in a release.

In 2021, B.C. became the first province in Canada to train nurses to prescribe opioid agonist medications.

According to the province, B.C. now has 3,645 publicly funded substance-use treatment beds, including 659 beds opened since 2017 with more coming, and more than 4,600 people received publicly funded live-in treatment and recovery support last year – 1,000 more than the year before.

It said the number of toxic-drug deaths in the first half of 2024 was nine per cent lower compared to the same period in 2023.