On Aug. 24, plans for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to relocate an overdose prevention site (OPS) from Howe Street to downtown Vancouver’s Helmcken Street were shut down by British Columbia’s government after pushback from the city’s Mayor, Ken Sim, and concerns from Vancouverites.
Business in Vancouver reported that B.C.’s current health minister, Ravi Kahlon, advised the VCH authority to find a different location for the site which would fulfill the community’s needs.
VCH, in response, highlighted the necessity of the proposed location. Daily Hive reported that VCH noted the downtown area has the “second-highest overdose death rate within the health authority’s region.”
During a news conference in May, Mayor Sim commented that downtown is not an optimal location, rather, the site should be at St. Paul’s Hospital.
“To use illicit drugs in the middle of downtown Vancouver one block away from Granville Street isn’t an answer to the addiction and mental health crisis that is destroying people’s lives across this great country of ours.”
In late August, it was confirmed that the prevention site would not open in downtown after months of uncertainty and challenge from Vancouver’s public servants and its citizens.
