A new harm reduction group is creating a safe space to do drugs in St. John's
In response to an increasing number of overdose deaths in Newfoundland and Labrador, a new group of harm reduction advocates are opening what they say is St. John's first overdose prevention site.
Overdose Awareness and Response St. John's (OARS) provides safe use supplies and naloxone, and its founder says both volunteers and nurses trained in overdose intervention are on hand.
"Whether that's folks that are street-entrenched or just folks downtown partying, we provide a space where people can do drugs in safety," said Luca Schaefer.
Schaefer describes the operation as similar to a supervised consumption site, which are controversial in Canada. The Health Canada website describes such sites as "a safe, clean space for people to bring their own drugs to use, in the presence of trained staff. This prevents accidental overdoses and reduces the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV."
Individuals or organizations who want to open a supervised consumption site can ask the federal government for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but OARS has not yet made an application.
In contrast, overdose prevention sites — which Health Canada also calls urgent public-health needs sites — "are established on a temporary basis to respond to urgent needs in a specific region or community."
Ottawa can authorize the provincial health minister to set up one of these sites, but in an emailed statement to CBC News, spokesperson Khadija Rehma said OARS has not yet contacted the Health Department.
"We appreciate the valuable work of community organizations and volunteers to ensure safe substance use supports and services," the statement said.
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services spokesperson Mikaela Etchegary said the provincial health authority supports harm reduction efforts, but hasn't established an official partnership with OARS.
Rigel Penman, a volunteer with OARS, told CBC News the group hasn't yet applied for legal exemption because it's still in talks with various levels of government.
Penman said OARS is trying to set up as "quickly as possible," especially with summer around the corner, and says the group decided not to wait for what could be a lengthy application process.
WATCH | Harm reduction advocates create pop-up overdose prevention site in St. John's:
The site won't supply or provide substances, Schaefer said.
"If using in the space is what they need at the moment, then we're able to provide that support. And if not, they're free to take what they need," she said.
For now, the site will be a pop-up tent in downtown St. John's — a setup that's "able to move and be wherever is needed or necessary," said Schaefer.
OARS has run the site twice so far, on the evenings of May 23 and May 30. Schaefer says public response has been mixed, with some people approaching to get supplies, and others expressing curiosity or negativity.
"This group is addressing and providing support to a marginalized and at-risk population," she said. "We should be looking to our most vulnerable people and asking ourselves what we're able to do to step up."
Overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites were a talking point during the latest federal election, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre calling them "drug dens" and a "bizarre social experiment" and vowing to restrict them.
According to Health Canada, supervised consumption sites operate in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
The first site opened in Vancouver in 2003, and the model spread throughout the country in the ensuing decades. In 2016, as overdose deaths skyrocketed, several unsanctioned overdose prevention tents sprung up in the city's Downtown Eastside — ground zero for Canada's opioid crisis.
Activists at the time told CBC the pop-up sites were an effort to save lives without waiting for sluggish bureaucratic approval.
Last year, however, Ontario implemented a new law banning drug consumption sites near schools and child-care centres. That law forced the closure of nine sites in Ontario, despite a court injunction allowing them to remain open while a judge to examines the law's constitutionality.
Schaefer says she's ready to respond to concerns from the community.
In April, the RCMP warned of rising drug toxicity deaths in the province, and said cocaine is now the leading drug responsible for overdose deaths.Seventy-four people died from consuming drugs in Newfoundland and Labrador last year.
Last month, police seized a record amount of fentanyl from a St. John's trailer — enough to kill nearly half the province.
Schaefer says OARS is responding to those statistics.
"There's a lot of reasons why people use drugs," she said. "They shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the drugs that they're gonna take are going to kill them."
OARS outreach advocate Loo Vatcher says Newfoundland and Labrador is in desperate need of better overdose prevention.
"This world is hard enough for all of us, and whether we like it or not, people are going to use substances," they said. "It's really important that we meet people where they're at."
OARS will run a site once a week for now, but Vatcher says its long-term goal is to set up an indoor location to host safe use and harm reduction services.
For that to happen, OARS will be fundraising more money, applying for government grants and continuing its advocacy.
Vatcher said volunteers want to "put a bit of pressure on the government to do what's right, to help us create the safe space for people who deserve it."
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