Drug-use rooms spring up in government housing
Rooms in government housing seen as temporary measure to save lives
Drug-using rooms are springing up in government-funded housing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in response to the growing number of deaths from street drugs laced with fentanyl.
The trend came to light Tuesday during a news conference where B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake announced the opening of 38 new addiction-treatment beds for women — where drugs will not be allowed — run by the Atira Women’s Resources Society.
“Are we skirting federal law? You could make that argument,” Lake told reporters after the announcement, “but we weren’t prepared to wait for changes to save lives ... These, we hope, will be temporary measures until we get approval for supervised (drug) consumption sites in all areas of the province.”
B.C.’s Coroners Service released a report last week saying 914 people died of illicit drug overdoses in the province in 2016.
Atira chief executive Janice Abbott said the “shared-using rooms” opened after 11 overdose deaths among residents of Atira-related projects in the last three months, more than over the last 10 years combined. The organization runs 16 supported-housing facilities for women fleeing violence, and also supports some coed housing.
“We’ve freed up space in our building where people who are already using alone in their rooms can come together and use together. It’s not a safe-injection site,” said Abbott.
Other non-profit housing buildings have done the same, confirmed Vancouver Coastal Health.
Atira will also soon open a women’s-only injection site at 135 Dunlevy St. near Oppenheimer Park in what is now a cold-weather shelter.
In contrast, the new treatment facility in the Rice Block, a renovated heritage building at East Hastings Street and Hawks Avenue in Strathcona, will offer abstinencebased treatment, explained Abbott. Its aim is to provide a place in the DTES where women aren’t surrounded by drugs. First resi- dents will arrive Tuesday night, said manager Val Joseph.
“We don’t want women to end up back in a building where everyone else is using,” says Abbott. “It doesn’t guarantee success, but it creates more chance of success.”
There will be two staff members around the clock at the Rice Building, aided by a manager, nurse practitioner and counsellor. Rooms are newly renovated with a bed, microwave, mini-fridge and sink; shared bathrooms are down the hall and all meals are provided. Most of those costs will be covered by annual funding of $164,000 from Vancouver Coastal Health and $800,000 from B.C. Housing.
Counselling includes a “16-step program” that Abbott describes as a feminist alternative to the traditional 12-step meetings pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Staff will also try to reunite women with their children and families, who may have become estranged during their drug-using years.
Ten beds will be for clients coming straight out of drug detox before they’re able to find a longerterm place to recover. The other 28 beds will be open to women for six to 18 months while they continue to stay sober and look for permanent, safe housing.
Lake said the province is now closing in on its promise to open 500 new addiction-treatment beds in B.C. and should meet that target by the end of March. The Rice Block facility brings the number to 300 that have opened in the past three years, he added.
The health minister — who isn’t seeking re-election as the Liberal MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson in this spring’s vote — says he supports the work of a Vancouver Coastal Health clinic that administers prescription heroin and the legal painkiller hydromorphone to addicts.
But B.C. shouldn’t get too far ahead of other jurisdictions in North America in treating addictions, he cautioned, or it could trigger “unintended consequences.”