A group of Vancouver Island doctors, nurses, and trained volunteers set up an unsanctioned ‘pop-up’ overdose prevention site at Campbell River Hospital to help save lives and draw attention to the province’s unfulfilled 2024 promise to address drug use in hospitals.
From March 23 to 28, physicians will oversee a safer use space near the Campbell River Hospital. The site will be housed in tents outdoors and staffed by volunteers trained to recognize and respond to overdoses. Staff will help connect patients with referrals to treatment and detox. Sterile supplies to reduce the spread of blood-borne infections (like HIV and Hepatitis C) will also be distributed.
The Campbell River initiative is being supported by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy, an independent group of physicians from across Vancouver Island working with people who use substances. The group also advocates for compassionate, inclusive, evidence-based care for all.
“Hospital-based sites support people who need medical treatment to remain in hospital and receive that course of treatment – rather than, as we frequently observe, leaving against medical advice or being discharged due to substance use,” said group organizer Dr. Kelsey Roden, a family doctor and addiction medicine specialist in Victoria. “At the same time, our colleagues have long been concerned about the possibility of unintentional exposure from drug use indoors. This well-studied intervention can keep everyone safer.”
Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in BC for persons aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural diseases combined. Canadian and international evidence demonstrates that supervised consumption sites save lives, connect people to social services, offer pathways to treatment, reduce public drug use, and use public funds cost-effectively.
In April 2024, Adrian Dix, former minister of health, announced the creation of a provincial task force to address substance use in hospitals “to look at all aspects of the issue; specifically focusing on keeping people safe while gathering ideas to better support people addicted to drugs while they’re in the hospital.” Dix initially indicated major hospitals would be required to open overdose prevention sites, a commitment he later walked back. In May, the province announced a zero-tolerance policy on illicit substance possession and use in hospitals outside of designated overdose sites, wherein non-compliance “could include the discharge of the patient and/or police involvement.” Zero additional hospital-based sites have since opened.
Overdose prevention sites have been successfully implemented in Canadian healthcare settings, including St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, and Casey House in Toronto. The St Paul’s site, operating since 2021, recently reported an average of 46 visits a day, with 95 percent of overdoses managed within the site and zero deaths.
“The Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, continues to insist in her public comments that the work has been held up due to the need for ‘minimum service standards,’ as if the work previously done by Island Health was not done to a high standard, a notion that we reject. Further, it must be noted that a similar site has been operating highly effectively at a Vancouver hospital since 2018 and that when one is dealing with a public health emergency, there is an urgent need to act that transcends usual bureaucratic processes,” said Dr. Ryan Herriot, co-founder of the independent physician group.
“Regardless of how you feel about the politics of drug use, someone cannot get help tomorrow if they die today. It is our duty as physicians to advocate for evidence-based services that save lives,” says Dr. Jessica Wilder, another co-founder.
“Our community is hurting as the overdose rate on northern Vancouver Island keeps climbing. Our rural populations have less access to life-saving medical treatments. Our Indigenous Nations are being particularly hard hit such that life expectancy rates have dropped significantly – from 73.3 to 67.2 years. This is unprecedented and gut-wrenching,” says Dr. Erika Kellerhals, a family physician in Campbell River.
Members of Moms Stop The Harm (MSTH), a network of Canadian families impacted by substance use-related harms and deaths, are on site this week as volunteers and supporters.
“My son died in June of 2022 from an overdose related to the unregulated toxic drug supply. He had struggled lifelong with mental health issues, and the mental health care system totally failed him. His untreated mental health issues eventually led him to living on the streets and to substance use struggles. At the age of 20, my son died in a police cell due to toxic drugs and the inability to access the care he needed. Had there been access to detox, treatment, mental health care, safe drugs and more safe spaces to access care, my son would still be here. His death has changed me forever and devastated me. His family and friends are also impacted; I don’t want anyone else to go through this loss, but, sadly, it is happening every day,” said Chantal Costaz, a local member of MSTH.
