Ottawa funds pilots in Vancouver and Victoria to test models that help people avoid poisoned illicit drugs.
A first-of-its kind safer supply clinic in Vancouver’s downtown will begin to offer flexible, individual-centred care to people who use a variety of substances as early as this spring.
The $5-million, four-year Safer Alternatives for Emergency Response program was one of four B.C. safer supply projects to share $15 million, the federal government announced today.
The projects will provide pharmaceutical-grade medication as an alternative to the poisoned illicit supply.
“This can help not only Vancouver Coastal Health, not only B.C., but the rest of the country in identifying new models for preventing overdose deaths,” said Coastal Health chief medical officer Dr. Patricia Daly.
The government also announced funding for three similar projects, two in Vancouver and one in Victoria.
Over the next three years, $3.6 million will go to the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Providence Health Care Research Institute to run a safer supply and support services program in the Downtown Eastside.