Safe injection sites could be coming to Kelowna and Kamloops

In response to the alarming number of overdoses in the province, Interior Health Authority has begun looking into bringing a safe injection site to the Interior.

Both Kamloops and Kelowna are being considered as locations for a possible safe injection site with both cities showing a high number of overdose deaths this year.

According to statistics released by the B.C. Coroners Service, both cities have had 18 overdose deaths from January to May, 2016.

“We are addressing this emergency situation through a number of responses,” Dr. Silvina Mema, medical health officer with Interior Health, said. “One of which is exploring the possibility of offering safe consumption services.”

Regan Wilson, New life Mission Outreach Centre manager, welcomes the idea; however, said he believes locations could be an issue in Kamloops.

“It would be a bit tricky in Kamloops because we’re quite spread out. We have the North Shore crowd, the downtown crowd, and the people in Valleyview, too,” he said. “If we had one downtown, and there was someone in the North Shore, once they got their drugs, they’re not going to walk all the way from Northshore to downtown to use the site.”

A safe injection site would allow addicts a location to safely use — decreasing the levels of infections spread, overdoses, and dirty needles throughout the city, Wilson explained.

“Every city needs to do it. We’re way behind on this,” he said. “We’re definitely seeing that there is an awful lot of drug use in both cities. This would be beneficial for the people that don’t use as well, with less needles being left around.”

With the process currently in the early stages, IH says both communities are being considered equally, with the possibility of both, only one, or neither ending up with a safe injection site.

Interior Health estimates collecting feedback and consultation with stakeholders before gaining approval from the federal government could take months.

In the latest edition of the Interior Health newsletter, Medical Health Officer Dr. Silvina Mema said a safe-injection site is only one possibility. The IH plan should be called "safe consumption services," she said, because it could be included with existing services.

“Many people may be familiar with the term ‘safe injection site’ or the Insite program in Vancouver. In Interior Health, we use the term ‘safe consumption service’ because we will be exploring offering this service within existing programs that already serve the target population,” says Dr. Mema. “We are not looking at a standalone site like Insite in Vancouver.”