B.C. to review harm reduction vending machines at 3 hospitals
Kiosks at 3 Vancouver Island hospitals in Nanaimo, Campbell River and Victoria
B.C Premier David Eby is ordering a review of a program that dispenses free drug paraphernalia and testing kits from hospital vending machines.
The harm reduction kiosks have been placed at three Vancouver Island hospitals in Nanaimo, Campbell River and Victoria. The machines offer free access to harm reduction supplies, like naloxone, drug testing strips and safe sex kits — but also to drug paraphernalia, like bubble pipes and snorting utensils.
The review comes after Gwen O'Mahony, the B.C. Conservative candidate for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding, posted a video to social media on Monday highlighting some of her concerns.
In the video, O'Mahony dispenses herself a free bubble pipe from the machine, located just outside the doors of the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
O'Mahony, who told CBC she comes from a family that has wrestled with addiction, says she's concerned that the vending machines have become emblematic of the whole harm reduction system in the province.
"It's now all about kind of keeping people sort of in this cycle," she said.
"Now you have absolutely no person you're connecting with. It's just here. Take the paraphernalia, and just go and do your thing."
Eby says it's something the province is looking to address in its review of the program.
"That's what I've asked the minister of mental health and addictions to have a look at to make sure that we're meeting that expectation that I have, and that I think every British Columbian has," he told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.
Advocates speak out in support of machines
In Nanaimo, some of those working in addictions services say they are worried that the vending machines will get pulled.
Tanis Dagert with the Nanaimo Community Action Team, a peer-led initiative that implements local interventions to the ongoing drug crisis, says she has personal experience— her brother has been in hospital for years after sustaining brain damage from an overdose.
She says programs like the vending machines help keep people safe — and that it's no different than wearing a helmet while riding a bike.
"I'm a little bit distressed that it's being used as a lightning rod issue to stir up angst in the community when really it's providing life-saving service," she said.
She says in reviewing the program, she hopes the province talks with people who use and benefit from the machines, not just those who are against them.
Dagert says that the machines are helpful for those who use recreationally or are experimenting for the first time and want to do so safely.
"To me, the minimum is that they should be using clean supplies to do so, especially if there's a possibility of sharing," she said.
Since their installation, the three machines on the Island have dispensed over 1,100 harm-reduction supplies.
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