Safe drug inhalation site in Vancouver to be evicted from Downtown Eastside location
CBC
One of Canada's only safe drug inhalation sites is set to be evicted in Vancouver, in a move that could impact up to 500 daily drug users amid a worsening toxic drug crisis.
The overdose prevention site, at 99 West Pender Street, is run by the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS) in the city's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. It is an outdoor site located on a parking lot operated by private operator Impark.
The OPS was recently told its lease would expire on Mar. 31, with no alternative location yet confirmed.
Sarah Blyth, executive director of the OPS, said the proposed eviction from the location at Pender Street would directly lead to deaths among people who use drugs.
"Some of the things that happen when you're moving, you know, you're losing people that don't know where to go," she said.
"We see up to 500 people a day there. We're able to help people with housing and health care. And you know, we've really been doing a great job at helping people on that site. So it's going to be very difficult for people."
The OPS location at the West Pender parking lot had been around for a year, according to Blyth, and features much-needed washroom facilities for the city's vulnerable population.
"We really just didn't think that [the lease] wouldn't be renewed," she said. "It's very stressful for folks because people don't know where we're going to go and it's a very short timeframe."
Over 2,000 people died due to poisoned drugs in B.C. last year, with 524 deaths recorded in Vancouver alone.
However, none of those deaths were recorded at safe consumption sites, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.
Blyth says she was told that Impark was evicting the OPS in favour of leasing the parking lot for film shoots.
CBC News reached out to Impark and did not receive an answer by publication time.
Blyth says the lack of a permanent location for the life-saving services at the inhalation site is a concern.
"It's very challenging to get into a space, no matter what kind of a good neighbour we are," she said.