Supervised inhalation sites needed to cut overdose deaths in B.C., Victoria councilor says

Victoria city councilwants the province to expand access to supervised inhalation sites as a way to combat the ongoing overdose crisis.

Coun.Sarah Potts put together a motion with three other councillorsto urge the province to move forward on supervised inhalation siteswhere drug users can smoke illicit drugs methfor instance, or opioidswhich may be contaminated with fentanyl while being observed in case they overdose.

The motion passed Thursday morning.

"We most often think of overdoses ... attached to intravenous drug use, but right now this is the next frontier," Potts said.

"We have the tools, we have the knowledge, we have the science and the social science backing to understand that this is what we need to do."

She added that smoking is the most common way men and "younger and more vulnerable users" aged 15 to 29 consume drugs.

It's also the second-most common mode of consumption among those who have died of a suspected overdose.

It is estimated that an average of four people die every day in B.C. from suspected overdoses.

On Thursday, B.C.'s chief coroner reported thatfentanyl was implicated in 86 per cent overdose deaths in B.C.

'You need to help people right away'

Potts said building a supervised inhalation site is expensive because, if indoors, they need to have powerful ventilation systems.

A safe inhalation sitewas opened last yearin Lethbridge, Alta, and an outdoorone has been run by Vancouver's Overdose Prevention Society on the Downtown Eastside since April 2017.

Sarah Blyth runs the Vancouver site and saysthere is massive demand for the tent it has had over 100,000 visitors since it opened.

"People who smoke also overdose and when they overdose it's very quick," Blyth said. "You need to help people right away."

She said it's better from a health perspective to keep drug smokers smoking and not progressing into injecting.

"Once people are injecting, their level of tolerance to the drug ...goes up quite a bit. You don't really want to be encouraging that."

Province funding pilot program

The focus of the City of Victoria motion isn't calling for a site in Victoria in particular. It calls, instead, for more of them across the province.

Aspokesperson for B.C.'s Ministry of Mental Health andAddictions said the province isproviding funding to the Overdose Prevention Society's work as apilot program.

"We are looking forward to the findings generated by that pilot," thespokesperson wrote in an email. "We know that inhaling toxic unregulated drugs presents a high risk for overdose including from non-opioid stimulant drugs."

The City of Vancouver has also called on the province to expand supervised inhalation services.

Potts' motion moves the issue forward to theAssociation of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities. That body willvote on whether tosendthe recommendationto theUnion of B.C. Municipalities for its 2019 general meeting agenda.