People who inhale illicit drugs now have access to a permanent indoor inhalation overdose prevention service in downtown Victoria, as part of ongoing efforts to respond to the toxic drug supply public health emergency and save lives.
The new service -- co-located with The Harbour, Victoria’s safer consumption site at 941 Pandora Avenue -- is the first of its size fully enclosed indoor inhalation site of its kind in North America. The overdose prevention services are part of a larger Wellness and Recovery Centre service model where people who use substance can also access other health care services, including counselling and treatment.
“The unpredictable poisoned drug supply continues to take lives at a tragic, unacceptable rate across BC, including in Victoria,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “More than half of the people who are dying consumed toxic drugs by smoking. This indoor inhalation service is part of our government’s plan to continue increasing access to life-saving services and connecting more people to care.”
At the end of October, the toxic drug supply had claimed the lives of 2,039 British Columbians this year – 130 of these in Greater Victoria.
The new indoor inhalation service opened on December 12 after extensive renovations to create a welcoming and safe space where people can smoke illicit substances. The new indoor site replaces the temporary inhalation service which has operated across the street at 926 Pandora Avenue since November 2021. The two inhalation services operated with overlap for a few days to support clients to transition to the new indoor service before the temporary site closed on December 15. The temporary site has averaged over 700 visits/week.
“The new indoor inhalation space will be a significant component of Island Health’s goal to reconfigure The Harbour into a Wellness and Recovery Centre,” said Leah Hollins, Island Health Board Chair. “The Wellness and Recovery Centre will be fully implemented in phases over the coming months and is based on the Cowichan Valley Wellness and Recovery site, which provides harm reduction, overdose prevention, access to medication-supported therapies and treatment, on-site basic health services and connection to Island Health on-site mental health and substance use services.”
The new indoor inhalation service will operate the same hours as the previous temporary service -- from 8 am to 7 pm, and will be able to accommodate up to 24 clients at a time. It will continue to be operated in partnership with the same providers which operate The Harbour and the temporary site – Island Health, Lookout Health and Housing Society and SOLID Outreach.
“We want to express our gratitude to the City of Victoria for the use of 926 Pandora for the temporary inhalation service over the past two years,” said James Hanson, Island Health VP, Clinical Services Acute Care North and Community Services. The city’s support of this service has without a doubt saved many lives.”
In addition to creating a safe and welcoming space for clients, Island Health’s renovations to create an indoor inhalation service have focused extensively on minimizing exposure to smoke for staff, clients and members of the public as well as mitigating noise from the service’s venting system. The site is equipped with high functioning, HEPA equipped air handling units which meet all environmental and occupational health standards. Island Health has also taken additional measures to ensure large sound dampeners were added to the air handling system to ensure noise levels meet the City of Victoria allowable noise levels for this part of town.
View photos of the site
(First photo includes: Island Health manager of mental health and substance use recovery services Echo Kulpas, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside and Island Health board chair Leah Hollins touring the site.)