A Fraser Health website offering harm reduction supplies for free through home delivery has significantly reduced the number of products available, not long after launching.
On Aug. 7, Fraser Health announced that people who use drugs in B.C. are able to access harm reduction supplies through an online portal. Since then, however, the number of products available at that portal has been reduced.
"I had a concern about the website," Premier David Eby said in response to a reporter question at a press conference Thursday (Aug. 22).
"We asked Fraser Health to do a review of the site and to ensure that the site emphasized a couple of things. One is access to treatment resources and access to resources to prevent overdose — fentanyl test strips, naloxone distribution."
Originally, the online portal allowed users to add supplies such as inhalation and injection tools such as syringes, sterile needles and glass tubes, naloxone kits and fentanyl screening strip kits to a virtual basket and checkout. Now, the website no longer offers products for drug injection or inhalation.
"The emphasis of our government continues to be to support people in getting into treatment and doing our best to keep people alive so that they have that opportunity to get into treatment," Eby said.
The toxic drug crisis in B.C. has taken 1,158 lives in the first half of 2024, with it still being the leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 59 in the province.
"Access to treatment is another critical component of the care continuum," Fraser Health's Dr. Ingrid Tyler, vice-president of population health and chief medical health officer, shared with Peace Arch News on Monday morning (Aug. 26).
"For this reason, we were directed by the province to redesign the website to more prominently feature how people may access treatment and prevention, ensuring drug testing kits and naloxone are available to save lives, and providing information that supports people in their recovery journey. This redesign includes a pause on offering some harm reduction supplies on the online portal."
Harm reduction sites and Fraser Health's public health units still offer the products no longer online, the health authority states. However, the original intention of the online portal was to reach those who do not access in-person centres and services.
“There are many reasons people don’t access in-person harm reduction and drug checking services, including lack of transportation and stigma," Erin Gibson, manager of clinical operations for Fraser Health's toxic drug response and priority populations, said in the original news release.
Since the change, concerns have risen among many working in substance use advocacy.
"The Premier has chosen politics over a strong healthcare system, as his actions to remove access to sterile supplies directly goes against evidence-based public health and will further overburden our healthcare system," said Andra Skirving, a Surrey Union of Drug Users board of directors member.
"Distribution of sterile inhalation and injection supplies is an essential and cost-saving way to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, such as wound and skin infections, Hepatitis C, and HIV. These programs were started by community members decades ago, evaluated by researchers, and then adopted and implemented as public health strategies by the government. There is no valid reason for Eby to have shut down this program.”
Instructional videos on how to use the tools that were previously offered have also been removed from the online portal.
