SIDEWALK SAFE SITE
Drug-user support groups set up tent on city’s notorious ‘Strip’ for drug addicts to inject themselves under supervision
A small tent pitched in Surrey on Wednesday symbolized the desperate measures being taken to end the ongoing overdose crisis killing drug users across B.C.
In an act of rebellion, drug-user support groups established an illegal, temporary supervised-injection site (SIS) in the city ahead of income-assistance payments Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, Fraser Health responded to 36 non-fatal overdoses in Surrey within 48 hours. Research has shown overdose deaths in B.C. increase by 40 per cent during income-assistance weeks.
Wednesday, on the notorious ‘Strip’ at 135A Street near 106th Avenue, drug users visited a tent walled with tarps attached by tourniquets, where they injected themselves two dozen times over the course of a few hours. Members of Insite, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and Pivot Legal Society, were present, along with a physician.
The site did not have a federal exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, so it was operating illegally.
Despite this, Surrey RCMP did not shut down the site when visiting and were “polite and professional” to those present, said Russ Maynard of the Portland Hotel Society, which operates the Insite SIS in Vancouver.
The tent was taken down at 2 p.m. as planned.
Maynard said the event was organized by grassroots organization the B.C.-Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors. A team of harm reductionists provided support with the tent, clean injection supplies and “technical know-how around supervised injection,” he said.
“We knew that we were only going to scratch the surface of the need. A lot of that is people not feeling comfortable — they’re not used to a service.”
Maynard said he wants to invite Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, who has been apprehensive about bringing an SIS to the city, to visit him and learn more about how Insite helps people connect with health services and transition into recovery.
Hepner was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Surrey Coun. Vera LeFranc told Postmedia News the city was aware of the actions taken by Vancouver advocates to assist local drug users.
“We have police and bylaw (officers) who are standing by,” LeFranc said. “I think we’re all on high alert because we had such a high number of overdoses.”
LeFranc said Fraser Health had dispatched extra paramedics and nurses and was dispensing additional naloxone kits, which are used to reverse opioid overdoses. Asked if the city has plans for an SIS in Surrey, LeFranc said it was “out of the city’s hands” but council is “looking forward” to seeing a full plan from Fraser Health.
Dr. Victoria Lee, chief medical health officer for Fraser Health, said Friday the authority would like to embed supervised-consumption services within existing or future facilities that serve vulnerable or high-risk populations.
“Of course, there’s the significant health benefits of decreasing longterm consequences such as hepatitis-C, HIV and overdoses, but also linking people to important health and social services,” Lee said.
The illegal SIS was warmly welcomed by heroin users Kasey Balaberda and Sebastian Cameron, who both used the temporary facility and said they were grateful for the services provided.
But it drew criticism from the Surrey Area Network of Substance Users, which has long provided support for drug users in the area.
SANSU president Ron Moloughney said he’s worried the illegal site will complicate the group’s progress with Fraser Health. He said SANSU wants a stand-alone site, properly air-conditioned and fully staffed with health care professionals who will connect drug users with treatment services.
“They have the right idea, but the wrong approach,” Moloughney said of the makeshift site. “They’re not doing us any favours."
The illegal SIS was set up just as Premier Christy Clark announced the formation of a new task force to deal with the rising number of fatal illicit-drug overdoses, which claimed 371 lives in the first half of 2016.
The province will ask the federal government permission to set up more supervised-injection sites in B.C. as part of its strategy. Bill C-2, passed by the federal Conservatives last year, has hampered efforts to set up such services.
The task force will be headed by provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall and director of police services Clayton Pecknold, who will aim to strengthen overdose response and prevention measures.
The province will also pressure the federal government to restrict access to pill presses and tableting machines, limit access to materials used to manufacture fentanyl and escalate charges for trafficking fentanyl.
A testing service will be established for drug users to determine if their drugs contain adulterants such as fentanyl. A new marketing campaign will educate the public about overdoses while the province works to expand treatment options through access to medications, opioid-substitution programs and recovery programs.
The Trudeau government said Wednesday it is taking “very seriously” B.C.’s plea for sweeping measures to deal with the public health crisis over fentanyl overdoses.
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott’s office noted that it has already taken several measures to deal with the public health emergency, such as allowing Vancouver’s Dr. Peter Centre to operate an SIS and providing greater access to naloxone.