Automated kiosks that dispense harm-reduction supplies on Vancouver Island have been suspended while the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions conducts a review.
The kiosks, which had been placed at hospitals in Nanaimo, Campbell River and Victoria in the fall of 2023, offered free access to supplies like naloxone, drug-testing strips and safe-sex kits alongside drug paraphernalia like bubble pipes and snorting utensils.
Premier David Eby ordered a review of the program in late August after Gwen O’Mahony, the B.C. Conservative candidate for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding, posted a video to social media highlighting her concerns about the vending machines.
The ministry told CBC News that while its review is underway, health authorities are suspending “harm reduction measures that do not offer an opportunity for an in-person connection with a peer or health care worker who can provide a connection to the system of care.”
CBC has asked the ministry when the review will be completed and when results will be shared.
B.C Premier David Eby is ordering a review into a program that put three harm reduction kiosks at Vancouver Island hospitals. The review comes after a B.C. Conservative candidate raised concerns.
“The review is looking at ways to improve the connection to the system of care, including treatment options, through in-person interactions at the point of distribution,” the ministry added.
Harm-reduction advocates are criticizing the move, saying the machines helped people who use drugs stay safe.
Concerns
In O’Mahony’s social media video, she dispenses a free bubble pipe from a vending machine located just outside the doors of the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
O’Mahony, who told CBC News last month she comes from a family that has wrestled with addiction, says she’s concerned the vending machines have become emblematic of the whole harm-reduction system in the province.
“It’s now all about kind of keeping people sort of in this cycle,” she said.
“Now you have absolutely no person you’re connecting with. It’s just here. Take the paraphernalia, and just go and do your thing.”
‘Potentially dangerous’
Tanis Dagert with the Nanaimo Community Action Team, a peer-led initiative that implements local interventions to the ongoing drug crisis, said she was surprised the machines were suspended.
“It seemed very reflexive and reactive to what I thought was a very proactive solution that can serve a lot of people in our community,” she said in an interview.
Thomas Kerr, a senior scientist and the director of research at the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, said there’s a lot of misinformation being shared about how harm-reduction programs work in the midst of a toxic drug crisis.
“To undertake an initiative to lower access to a life-saving medication like naloxone — it’s short sighted, it’s potentially dangerous, and should be reconsidered,” he said in an interview.
“If you want to conduct a review of an intervention to optimize it and rule out potential unintended consequences, fine. But get some answers before you take action.”
The province says it continues to offer harm-reduction supplies through peer support and service providers.