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VANCOUVER – Heather Hobbs remembers the day very well: AIDS Vancouver Island staff had another toilet overdose victim, her body was blue due to lack of oxygen.
The man was revived and they closed the Victoria office to allow staff to regroup. At the same time, in an alley half a block away, another of their clients was dying from an overdose.
Hobbs said she remembers seeing the man leave the premises while he was beginning to get rid of the overdose. Her death was the turning point for setting up an overdose prevention site in their facility, even though it was not yet legal, she said.
"I think it's possible, if we had not had to close, he'd still be alive. So these are the moments that are important to me and really make it clear that these spaces are essential to keep people alive, "said Hobbs, Risk Reduction Services Manager for AIDS Vancouver Island.
In April 2016, the B.C. government declared a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, allowing unprecedented implementation of prevention facilities. In just a few weeks, 20 sites have proliferated in the province.
A new study by researchers at the Canadian Addiction Research Institute concludes that rapid site implementation should serve as a model for other governments to save lives.
According to the study, the rapid response of the provincial government and community groups is an "international example of an alternative to long and tedious sanctioning processes for (supervised consumption sites)."
The report, published this month in the International Journal of Drug Policy, indicates that other government requests for public consultations and an "intensive application process" are highly questionable in the context of 39, legal drug poisoning and evidence-based alternatives such as (overdose prevention sites.) "
Health Canada approves supervised consumption sites, which require an exemption from federal drug legislation, as well as overdose prevention sites in British Columbia. sanctioned by the declaration of the provincial Minister of Health on a public health emergency.
Bruce Wallace, co-author of the report, researcher at the institute and badociate professor at the University of Victoria, said the study demonstrated just how unnecessary the approval process was elsewhere .
"Our research shows that the benefits of having overdose prevention sites in many places that are truly integrated with housing, health and social support are a model to follow rather than returning to federal processes, which are more complex. difficult to implement and more limited in scope. "
According to the BC Coroners Service, 991 people died of overdoses of illicit drugs in 2016, including 1,486 the following year and 1,510 of them illicit drug victims in 2018. The dramatic increase in The number of deaths coincides with the emergence of the powerful opioid fentanyl, which the coroner claims to be responsible for the majority of illicit drug deaths.
The Public Health Agency of Canada announced last week that 3,286 people had died of apparently opioid-related deaths between January and September of last year.
The report is based on interviews with staff at three of Victoria's prevention sites to determine their impact.
Wallace said he was frustrated that other Canadian jurisdictions are not adopting the same innovative practices to save lives, especially because they have been warned that dangerous opioids are moving into their provinces.
"So, to have this level of warning about potential harm and not acting, it's really tragic that people do not take these lessons and adopt them as fast as possible in other jurisdictions."
The Ontario government announced at the end of March that if 15 overdose prevention sites had been approved, another six would be closed, including three in Toronto.
Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction in British Columbia, said there are approximately 40 overdose prevention sites in British Columbia. with more than a million visits. Thousands of overdoses were canceled and there were no deaths on the sites, she added.
Darcy said he felt the government's actions, including prevention sites, take-away naloxone kits and other preventive measures, had saved about 4,700 lives.
She said that prevention sites are an essential tool that also connects visitors to other supports, such as housing or treatment. But stigma remains, said Darcy, and that's the next hurdle to take down.
"For too long, we have treated mental health, mental illness as a sign of weakness, and addiction as a failure of the personality and a sign of moral failure," she said. "These centers do not judge people. They are there to save lives, they are there to put people in touch with the social support they need. "
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