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Editorial: Protection from toxic drugs comes in many forms

Supervised drug use was already saving lives, other strategies needed
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A display set up at Nanaimo’s Maffeo Sutton Park at a past year’s International Overdose Awareness Day event. (News Bulletin file photo)

During an overdose crisis that has done so much harm, more harm-reduction services will be embraced by many in our community.

The Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mid Island branch re-located and expanded its supervised consumption service this week. The CMHA turned off the lights at its Wesley Street location over the weekend and then turned on the lights at its new digs at the corner of Albert and Dunsmuir streets. There are some unknowns as to what the take-up will be at the new site. But the CMHA has recognized for years that it needed a location where it could offer supervised inhalation, as that has become, increasingly, the choice of drug users.

Whatever the take-up, whatever the overdose prevention service starts to look like at its new location, what we see there will be one picture of drug use in our community. We’re told repeatedly that drug-poisoning deaths happen in private residences, and inevitably, that will continue to be the case.

The supervised consumption site closed up shop on Wesley without a single drug overdose death on its watch. Supervised consumption has already been saving lives and it will keep doing so. There are so many other factors that will determine if Nanaimo and the rest of the province can emerge from this crisis – education, awareness, attitudes, treatment options, resources, funding.

The first 10 months of 2022 ensured this will be Nanaimo’s most deadly year yet in the drug-poisoning crisis. Repeatedly, we hear about overdose warnings – there’s one in effect in Parksville-Qualicum right now, as a matter of fact – and we hope drug users are taking reasonable measures to protect themselves. Drug testing is available locally and even by mail. Island Health promotes the Lifeguard app and urges users to take a small tester hit before a full hit.

Drug users should know that the supply is highly toxic. The rest of us should be willing to talk about drug use and abuse without judgment, with consideration for those who have died, and with the motivation to prevent further harm.

READ ALSO: New overdose prevention service in Nanaimo will accommodate inhalation and injection



editor@nanaimobulletin.com

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