Victoria supervised injection site will be Vancouver Island’s largest

VICTORIA — The largest supervised consumption site on Vancouver Island will open Monday in Victoria as the Island Health Authority ramps up its response to the overdose epidemic.

The site at 941 Pandora Ave. has 10 consumption booths where people can inject illicit drugs while medical staff stand ready to intervene in the event of an overdose.

In addition to preventing deaths, staff will be able to connect clients to detox, treatment and recovery services as well as counselling, nursing or medical care, Island Health said.

Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s chief medical health officer, said the consumption centre will save lives by treating addiction like any other medical condition.

“This is really another effort to combat stigma,” he said.

The supervised consumption centre has an annual budget of $1.5 million. Four staff — including paramedics — will be on shift at all times.

Island Health says there have been 121,000 visits and 683 overdoses without a death at its nine existing supervised consumption and overdose prevention sites since 2016.

“We are not losing lives at safe consumption sites or at overdose prevention sites — not in British Columbia, not anywhere across the country,” said Judy Darcy, B.C.’s minister of mental health.

The B.C. Coroners Service says 511 people died from drug overdoses in the first four months of this year — 87 of those on Vancouver Island.