An overdose prevention site was set up outside Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST
Organizers were forced to move overdose prevention sites from hospital property in Victoria and Nanaimo after Island Health shut them down
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Doctors and volunteers received a frosty welcome from Island Health security guards on Monday when they tried to set up unsanctioned overdose-prevention sites on Victoria and Nanaimo hospital grounds.
Doctors for Safer Drug Policy had planned to run two unsanctioned overdose-prevention sites this week at Royal Jubilee Hospital and Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
The group is made up of Island physicians who say overdose-prevention services at hospitals are needed for drug users accessing health care and to reduce incidents of illicit drug use within hospitals.
“I think strategic patience has shown itself to be ineffective,” said Dr. Ryan Herriot, who helped organize the overdose-prevention sites. “Enough is enough.”
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