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As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I have been spending time talking with first responders, medical doctors and people who use drugs about the ongoing public health emergency from toxic drugs. 

On Wednesday, the province announced that it was making a significant change to how the prescribed safer supply program will operate. Effective immediately, the approximately 3,900 patients in British Columbia who have access to prescribed safer supply will have to visit a pharmacy or clinic multiple times a day so a health-care professional can watch them ingest their prescription.

This was done weeks after the Conservative Party of British Columbia published a leaked presentation by the Ministry of Health that said a ‘significant portion’ of prescribed alternatives were not being consumed by the intended user, with some of these drugs funding organized crime in the province. 

One of the people I talked with was Dee R. who is a patient on the prescribed safer supply program. She was so generous with her time as she shared her experiences about how the program has turned her life around — as well as her fears about what the changes will mean for her daily life. 

I also dug into the data for overdose fatalities, emergency calls to first responders and hospital emergency department visits in Nanaimo. 

Last year, Nanaimo saw some encouraging downward trends in all of those metrics. But experts like Island Health’s chief medical health officer are cautious about what it means and if we will even return to the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, much less since the public health emergency was declared in 2016. You can read that story here.  

Thank you for reading, 

Mick Sweetman

Sudden changes to safer supply program a ‘huge mistake,’ says Nanaimo patient

Patients must use prescribed safer supply drugs in front of medical professionals under new rules by province, but health experts say a regulated supply is still an urgent life-saving measure.

Drop in 2024 Nanaimo overdose deaths ‘a fraction’ of overall trend upwards 

Overdose deaths and emergency calls remain at the second-highest levels since 2014.

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On the Island

🌊 Biscuits and marmot-friendly weather are contributing to a comeback for Canada's most endangered mammal. Read about how Vancouver Island marmots are having a baby boom. 

🌊 In case you missed it: Hundreds of people marched in Nanaimo to honour #MMIWG2S+ and bring justice for harms that ‘never, ever should have happened.’ Read the full story and see photos of the march here. 

🌊 Province ends take-home safer supply program as Cowichan sees uptick in overdose response calls, reports Cowichan Valley’s Eric Richards.

In other news

👉 Did you feel that earthquake? A 5.1 magnitude earthquake on the Sunshine Coast shook Vancouver Island and southwestern B.C. on Friday afternoon. The quake was centred 26 kilometres northeast of Sechelt according to Earthquakes Canada. There were no reports of damage as of 2:08 p.m. according to Emergency Management B.C. CHEK News has the story.

👉 The Nanaimo RCMP are investigating a suspicious vehicle fire that burned former Conservative Party of B.C. candidate Gwen O’Mahony’s car on Feb. 11. O’Mahony thinks it may be linked to a recent interview she gave about arson at churches days before the fire. An RCMP spokesperson told The Discourse that the fire is still being investigated and nothing has been ruled out but there is no evidence that the fire was politically motivated. CHEK News has the story.

👉 Nanaimo city council is looking at adjusting the timeline of the Commercial Street renewal project to mitigate its impact on downtown businesses. Nanaimo News Now has the story.

👉 Vancouver Island craft breweries are bracing for the possible impacts of tariffs on aluminum cans that are imported from the United States. CHEK News has the story.

Thank you for reading,

— Mick and The Discourse team

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