Advocates trying to help with the overdose crisis say they have been told to ease off by the City of Vancouver.
The High Hopes Foundation hands out non-lethal pain relievers to keep drug users away from fentanyl.
The foundation’s president, Sarah Blyth, said she understands the organization went around the city to set this up, but added that something needed to be done to stop, or at least slow down, the body count.
“We’re going to do this and when people don’t need this help anymore, then we’ll stop. But as long as we’re saving people’s lives, we’re going to continue on.”
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In an email, the city said they will be meeting with Blyth next week and is waiting to hear from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) on whether it agrees with the foundation’s approach to hand out pain relievers.
“Unlike the overdose prevention sites, which are fully endorsed by VCH as an effective response to the crisis, we do not yet have that level of clarity from public health authorities,” reads part of the statement from the city.
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The statement also said that the work that members of the Downtown Eastside do is “truly heroic,” and that it wants to support any efforts designed to ease the effects of the opioid crisis.
“We’re going to make it work. We’re going to make sure that people have a proper drug supply. There’s interest in doing it across Canada as well,” said Blyth.
“Ideally, there would be some response from all levels of government that would make this happen without us having to do it.”
The city is expecting more than 400 overdose deaths in Vancouver by the end of the year, topping last year’s total of 231.
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