SUPER SAFE SITES
City’s new supervised consumption sites are the first in Canada where drugs can be used orally and nasally — not just by injection
Harm reduction advocates in Surrey say federal approval allowing drug users to use orally and nasally — and not just by injection — at two supervised consumption sites is long overdue and will save lives.
Health Canada on Tuesday approved Fraser Health’s request to provide supervised consumption of oral and intra-nasal substances — the first time such an exemption has been granted in Canada — at SafePoint on 135A Street, which opened on June 8, and Quibble Creek Sobering and Assessment Centre on 94A Avenue, which began providing supervised consumption services on June 20.
Two other supervised consumption sites that have existed in Vancouver for years, along with those that have recently been allowed to open in the city and elsewhere in Canada, still only allow drug use by injection.
Dr. Victoria Lee, chief medical health officer for Fraser Health, said the exemption allowing people to take various drugs through different means will expire in one year before another application must be submitted. She said while the main concern is saving lives, supervised consumption sites are also a gateway to treat opioid addiction.
“We want to make sure that our services are providing as big a reach as possible,” she said.
“We heard from colleagues from around the country that they didn’t even know that this was an option,” Lee said of the health authority’s request for approval of three modes of drug consumption.
Ron Moloughney, president of the Surrey Area Network of Substance Users, said the Health Canada approval was greatly needed.
He said drug users are consuming “a whole gauntlet” of substances that aren’t always injected or smoked. He’s seen drug users drinking hand sanitizer and crushing and snorting painkillers.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time.”
At the Overdose Prevention Society in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Sarah Blyth and her colleagues have been supervising people who consume substances orally or intra-nasally since last fall.
Up to 700 people visit the site per day, Blyth said. Roughly half smoke and half inject their substance, but some will snort a line of cocaine or another substance during their visit, she added.
The site has no exemption for such substances but Blyth said that because the overdose situation is so dire, allowing such substance use helps volunteers make contact with those drug users and refer them to health and social services.
“They do everything — anything goes,” Blyth said. “So they come in and whatever they’d be doing on the street, we just watch and make sure that they’re OK.”
Jordan Westfall, president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, said his group also welcomes the change, and hopes more health regions will obtain exemptions.
“I think it’s great to expand access to this to everybody using opioids right now because obviously the drug supply is contaminated and everybody is at risk,” he said.
Westfall’s organization has also been advocating for ventilated inhalation rooms, which have been proven to reduce harm.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall said the supervision of a wider range of substances at the two Surrey sites will help save lives and help reverse more overdoses.
“In addition, staff at both sites will have greater opportunities to engage with people and connect them to treatment services when they are willing to access them,” Kendall said.
Since its opening, SafePoint has seen 1,079 visits by 203 people who have accessed supervised consumption services, with an average of 5.3 visits per person. Fraser Health says 19 overdoses have been reversed, with zero deaths.
“Since opening on June 8, we have had more than one thousand visits. This latest exemption from Health Canada means we will be more inclusive and provide care to more people,” said Lee.
Fraser Health’s application did not request an exemption for smoking crack because that would have created an occupational hazard for workers, Lee said.