VCH looks to expand safe drug consumption services in Richmond

published on February 22, 2023 by Maria Rantanen in Richmond News

Vancouver Coastal Health is working on offering more safe drug consumption services in Richmond.

Details are still be worked out, but Richmond medical health officer, Meena Dawar, told the Richmond News, they are working on setting up an “episodic overdose prevention service.”

As for having a standalone safe-injection site – otherwise known as a safe-consumption site – Dawar said Richmond doesn’t have the density of people using drugs to justify it.

To be effective, a safe-injection site should be near an identified group of drug users who are able to walk to the site.

“In Richmond, there’s not a neighbourhood or area where we could provide such service,” Dawar said.

When the episodic service is set up, VCH will reach out to people who use drugs to let them know this service is available…