Yahoo Movies Mobile safe consumption site launches in Penticton to help prevent overdose deaths
The organizers behind a volunteer-based initiative by a non-profit organization in Penticton, B.C., are hoping to help prevent overdoses in the community by providing a free mobile safe consumption site.
The Penticton Overdose Prevention Society launched a new safe consumption service in a bus earlier this week and are inviting people who use substances like opioids to come in and be observed while they use.
"We can respond really quickly and get them the lifesaving services that they need as soon as [an overdose] happens," co-founder Desiree Franz said on CBC's Daybreak South.
She said the idea to re-purpose a bus as a safe consumption site has been in the works for a while but the organization decided the need was too urgent to wait any longer when a member of the community passed away from overdose in late May.
"He probably wouldn't have passed away if the services already were being utilized in our community," she said. "People are dying in our community and we just want to prevent that from happening."
Under a provincial health order that was made in 2016, organizations can set up services like a safe consumption site if the community has a need for it, but it's up to individual municipalities to determine that need.
Franz said she's hoping the city won't give them too much trouble for starting their service without seeking permission first.
"It's a needed service and I think we can argue that quite easily if we get some pushback," she said. "Watching people die unnecessarily ... we can change that, we can make a difference."
The City of Penticton said in a written statement they were unaware of the new safe consumption service until a news item appeared earlier this week. The city has not provided any licensing.
"We are in the process of understanding the implications and legal and health aspects of this service and we will be making a decision on how to approach this once we have more information," the city said.
LISTEN | Desiree Franz talks about the new mobile safe consumption service on the CBC's Daybreak South:
