|
Last week I reported on a group of addictions medicine doctors with Doctors for Safer Drug Policy who set up a temporary Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) outside the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Tragically, during the week, a man who had previously used the OPS in the day died in a washroom in the hospital’s emergency department.
Island Health told The Discourse that a review of the death is being conducted “to ensure all factors are reviewed and understood, and any potential system, process or practice improvements are identified and implemented.”
Since then, reporting has revealed that Island Health had plans to open an OPS at three hospitals on Vancouver Island this past summer, starting with Nanaimo. Island Health presentation slides, first obtained by Filter Magazine and shared with The Discourse, show plans to set up outdoor OPS tents, vans and trailers outside hospitals in Nanaimo and Victoria, followed by Campbell River.
However, the presentation shows that in April “all work was paused based on government direction.” This was the same time that drug use and harm reduction services in hospitals became highly politicized and the government took steps to recriminalize possession of illicit drugs in public spaces, including hospitals, across the province.
Doctors for Safer Drug Policy are continuing to push for a meeting with Health Minister Josie Osborne and for her to give direction to health authorities to set up overdose prevention services at hospitals.
A report in the Times Colonist said the Ministry of Health was working on establishing minimum service standards for overdose prevention sites, and that the planning to open an OPS on hospital grounds could be reconsidered in the future.
In a statement on social media, Doctors for Safer Drug Policy said detailed guidelines and operational protocols for overdose prevention services already exist through the BC Centre for Disease Control, the BC Centre for Substance Use and health authorities.
“There is a mountain of insurmountable evidence supporting overdose prevention sites as a simple, cost effective intervention that saves lives,” the group wrote.
The group said it would like to see politicians “get your hands out of our health-care systems” and “give our health authority the green light to move forward with Overdose Prevention Sites now.”
I also got a number of emails from readers about my story and on the subject of harm reduction and overdose prevention in general. One of our readers, who is an advocate for people who use drugs, wrote a passionate letter that we are sharing with you to help provide a perspective on the issue from a voice that is seldom heard, from a person with lived experience using drugs.
|
