Health officials seek input on safe consumption sites in Victoria – CP

Source: The Canadian Press
Nov 15, 2016 

VICTORIA _ Health officials in Victoria are looking to open two supervised drug consumption sites, and they’re asking the public for feedback.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority says a planning group has been working since January to create a plan that would meet the needs of several groups, including people who use illicit drugs, local residents and police.

The group looked at data on where drugs are used and where overdoses are reported, and have identified the downtown and Rock Bay areas as high-priority locations for the sites.

The health authority’s chief medical health officer Dr. Richard Stanwick says in a statement that such facilities improve health, connect people with services and decrease health-care costs.

Canada currently has two supervised consumption sites, both in Vancouver, although other cities, including Montreal and Toronto, have expressed interest in creating similar facilities.

The province is also calling on the federal government to repeal or amend a law requiring cities to meet 26 criteria before applying to open a supervised consumption site, and Health Minister Jane Philpott has said her department will review it.

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