Kamloops city councillors unanimously support supervised injection site
KAMLOOPS — City councillors in Kamloops have voted unanimously in favour of considering a supervised drug injection site similar to the groundbreaking Insite facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The vote followed a presentation from medical health officer Dr. Silvina Mema, who says Interior Health is considering up to two sites in the city.
But an immediate launch of the pilot project is unlikely because Mema says clinic locations haven’t been found, community and government consultations are still required and Health Canada approval is needed.
Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar says he doesn’t believe a supervised injection site will be what he calls “a magical solution to everything,” but he hopes the facility will reduce overdoses in the community.
Interior Health wants to link the clinics to an already existing harm-reduction service for drug users but officials with at least one Kamloops social service agency say they don’t have the resources to provide required detox, treatment or housing.
Mema agrees one or two clinics will not be a complete answer to the overdose epidemic, but believes the health authority must act.
“This is one more piece of work we are doing to address people who are actively injecting drugs and don’t have a place to inject, and don’t have someone to look after them,” she says.
B.C. has declared a public health emergency because of more than 400 overdose deaths this year alone from powerful opioids such as fentanyl.
Interior Health predicts fatal overdoses in Kamloops in 2016 could be six times higher than last year.