The Surrey Union of Drug Users (SUDU) says the province is not doing enough to remove barriers that exist when creating an overdose prevention site.
SUDU community organizer Anmol Swaich said the province is often quick to pass the blame to the health authority or municipalities.
While overdose prevention sites are managed by the health authority with community partners, Swaich said, “the province really does need to step up and play the role of navigating whatever those issues are and be more present in that instead of sort of passing it off,” Swaich said.
“We’re in an emergency. This is a health crisis, and we can’t push this off; seven people will die today (from unregulated drugs),” Swaich said.
On March 19, B.C.’s Auditor-General, Michael Pickup, released a review that examined provincial overdose prevention, supervised consumption sites, and the prescribed safer supply program.
Pickup said two key provincial programs intended to help the toxic-drug crisis that has resulted in at least 14,000 deaths since 2016 were not “effectively implemented.”
Swaich said she felt validated by parts of the report. “We agree with the auditor general’s report where he stated that the provinces essentially neglected to effectively work to overcome barriers for widespread overdose prevention site implementation, and it aligns with what we’ve seen here in Surrey,” Swaich said.
According to a BC Corners report, 231 people died in Surrey from unregulated drugs in 2023. This is the second-highest number of fatalities in a municipality in B.C. after Vancouver.
Swaich said this issue is disproportionately impacting marginalized communities like Newton, where 58 per cent of the population is South Asian, according to the 2016 census. Between 2015 and 2018, Fraser Health reported a 255 per cent increase in overdose deaths for the South Asian population.
Yet Newton has no overdose prevention sites. “There’s almost nothing you can access there (in Newton), and you’re very far from Whalley, like it can take hours walking,” Swaich said.
The three overdose prevention sites in Surrey are all in the Whalley/ City Centre area. Only one of these sites is a safe inhalation site. Swaich said that this is despite it being the most common mode of consumption in 2023.
“Not having any other smoke sites is a huge issue,” Swaich said. We need more safe injection spaces as well, but we really need more inhalation spaces; that needs to be the priority.”
In an email to the Now-Leader, a spokesperson from Fraser Health stated it is working closely with local, regional, and provincial partners to ensure there are “safe spaces available for people who use substances.” Fraser Health did not say if it has plans to open a new OPS site in Surrey.
“The toxic drug poisoning crisis is a significant and concerning public health crisis in our communities and we remain committed to providing and expanding services to prevent toxic drug poisoning events and deaths in our region,” reads the statement. “Overdose prevention sites have been instrumental in preventing death and harm associated with overdose, while increasing connections to health care resources and access to substance use services including treatment, decreasing injection-related litter and reducing Hepatitis C and HIV transmission.”
The SUDU tried to open a small drop-in space in Newton in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet some of the community’s needs. The City eventually shut them down in 2021. Swaich said they had up to 100 visitors a day.
“It was never intended to be an overdose prevention site, but with the sheer lack of services available, they had to sort of step up in this crisis,” Swaich said. “So SUDU at the time created some sort of process of like oversight for people who were using so that somebody can respond if an overdose happens,” she added.
After shutting the space down, the City of Surrey “promised to support a properly funded site in Newton, which they have since neglected to do, leaving our members to die,” said SUDU board member Andra Skirving.
Swaich said that in August 2020, the provincial government acknowledged the need for more safe inhalation sites and announced funding to expand overdose prevention sites (OPS) across the province. A year later, they put out a request for proposals.
A contract was given to an organization to set up an OPS site in Newton. Swaich did not know the specifics of what happened but said the organization faced several barriers when looking for a site. The organization decided to have an OPS in a mobile van instead, but again, they ran into barriers about where to park it.
Fraser Health stated in an email, “In collaboration with our municipal, provincial, industry and community partners, we worked for two years to secure an additional location for a mobile overdose prevention site in Newton to support people in the Surrey community who use substances; however, this process was unsuccessful.”
Swich said the mobile van is now operating out of Maple Ridge, which is “great cause there is a need there,” Swaich said. “But that need and the issues in Newton that were identified four years ago are still unmet.”
READ MORE: ‘Significant deficiencies’ in programs to curb toxic drug deaths: B.C auditor
The Surrey Union of Drug Users meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Surrey Libraries City Centre branch (10350 University Dr). The meeting is open to people who are currently or formerly using unregulated drugs. Swaich said the group discusses issues that people are experiencing.
-With files from Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press