Mobile overdose prevention RV aims to save lives in Winnipeg

A Winnipeg organization is working to prevent overdoses and let people know what's actually in the substances they're using — and they want to do all that out of a new RV.

Sunshine House recently bought the vehicle which will one day serve as a mobile overdose prevention site five to six nights a week for people who use drugs in Winnipeg's Central, West End, North End and Point Douglas communities.

Before it can launch, the organization is working to raise money to pay for equipment to confirm drug samples have no unexpected contaminants.

Levi Foy, the executive director of Sunshine House, says people are using drugs all over Manitoba, including in public washrooms, restaurants and libraries, but the RV will serve as a safer place.

"They can avoid things like rushing, their equipment can be disposed of and we can be able to monitor in the event of an overdose, we can be able to just intervene and provide kind of direct assistance and hopefully reversing much of the effects of overdose and preventing death," they told CBC Manitoba's Faith Fundal on Up to Speed on Monday.

Unlike supervised consumption sites, an overdose prevention site won't have a team of health-care workers. It's a bit more "bare bones," Foy says, but they'll be equipped with naloxone and a good knowledge of services people can access if they need additional help.

"We'll be able to provide support into referring into those programs or just being a first contact point and to showing people how where they can access the things that they might need," Foy said.

Sunshine House says the bulk of the funding for the RV came from Health Canada, but the organization still needs roughly $105,000 to buy specialized drug testing equipment that says exactly what's in a substance.

"That way folks can make informed decisions about how they're going to use or know that if they're using this particular substance, that it could mean there's a lot more risks associated," Foy explained.

"That's a risk that people take every day when they're using unregulated substances, so for people to be able to make informed decisions will help them save lives or maybe take some preventative steps."

More and more Manitobans are dying because of a poisoned drug supply, the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network says.

Prior to the pandemic, there were about 200 deaths due to drug poisoning.

That number doubled in 2021 to 407 deaths, and 2020 is on track to break that tragic record, said Jonny Mexico, the network coordinator for Winnipeg with the MHRN.

"Every one of those deaths is preventable," they said.