BEFORE CHRIST. A child care dog calls for supervised drug sites for teens

BC youth who use illicit substances report that they have no place of supervision, prompting the province's child care watchdog to recommend supervised consumption spaces for the less 18 years old.

Jennifer Charlesworth said "of course" that she was relying on the idea of ​​rejecting this idea because the idea of ​​seeing young people consuming such harmful substances is shocking.

"But the reality is that these young people are using substances and it is our job to do everything in our power to ensure their safety," said Dr. Charlesworth.

Last year, two dozen young people between the ages of 10 and 18 died of an illegal drug overdose, double the number recorded in 2016. Fourteen other youths had a fatal overdose in the past nine years. first months of 2018.

The recommendation for spaces for supervised drug users is one of five in a report released Thursday by the BC representative for children and youth. Entitled Listen to young people listening to addiction. This 55-page document reflects the views of 100 youth, through focus groups and surveys, as well as a review of 154 reports of serious injury and death.

Participants in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver coastal focus groups spoke about the value of supervised drug sites, but said they were largely inaccessible to youth, the report said. Some girls also expressed safety concerns about the use of services primarily available to older men and the presence of services in busy neighborhoods.

Some also mentioned difficulties in accessing harm reduction supplies such as clean syringes and pipes.

When asked what a youth-friendly site might look like, Dr. Charlesworth signaled to the Center for Youth Services Center in downtown Vancouver, where the press conference was held to publicize the site. report.

"This is the kind of environment in which young people feel welcome and safe, and there is a whole range of services and staff that are closely related to the community and understand what might be available," he said. she said.

Marnie Goldenberg, director of Directions Youth Services, said that it was already planned to discuss the feasibility of providing drug control services in the center. She said that creating a supervised drug-using space is "absolutely possible," but added that it would be a challenge.

"This space was created for this space and the introduction of new programs makes it difficult, especially when people want to avoid consuming," she said. "How do you integrate services that also support users? It's a balance, but we're ready to discuss how we can improve our game as a harm reduction site. "

Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction in British Columbia, said she had not received specific requests for such sites, but that if there were barriers to health services, including risk reduction, she would try to solve them.

"We do not know where we are going to land on this, but we take the report very seriously and we will look closely at the recommendations," she said.

At Insite's supervised drug use site in Vancouver, clients must be at least 16 years old. If they are between 16 and 19 years old, they must agree to be badessed by a nurse, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.

Youth can have access to harm reduction supplies – as well as naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses – at any point of VCH distribution. The health care provider has also made available to the Foundry Youth Clinic in Vancouver a fentanyl band check and is working to expand drug control to other youth service centers.

The other recommendations of the report are as follows: that the Department of Mental Health and Addictions ensure that the mental health and addictions strategy includes a commitment to youth participation; the development of a training program for foster parents on substance use by young people; the creation of a single source of information for all services related to the use of substances offered to young people by public funds; and a comprehensive system of substance use services that will meet the diverse needs of young people.

Dr. Charlesworth's report is intended to inform the government's new mental health and addictions strategy, set for next spring.