‘We can’t do anything:’ Overdose prevention site concerns council

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But council members wondered just how much of a voice they would have.

Some said they feel like they don’t have much of a say on the overdose prevention site, in the same way they don’t have much of a say on other controversial federal and provincial matters like cannabis legalization.

“This afternoon we are asked to comment on the location of seven retail non medicinal cannabis enterprises, there is no referral process from the Ministry that loops city council members, and we are the elected officials of the community, and we represent all of the stakeholders in the community and we are cut out of the discussion,” said Coun. Brian Quiring.  “The ministry is actually forcing us to not have a voice in this.”

“We can’t do anything. It’s a mood point. Here we sit, we have no input into where it goes at all, so that’s got to change, that’s got to change. It’s not fair to us,” said Quiring.

Dr. Goodison said that Interior Health will be putting out a request for proposals this week for qualified community groups to provide overdose prevention services at the site and because of that, they aren’t asking council for input on locations because they still don’t know who will be applying for the contract to provide the services.

According to Interior Health, it is up to the organizations vying to provide the services to consult with the community on the locations and the impacts on the community.

They add that consultation with the community is huge part of the evaluation process.

“This needs to be a collaborative approach and I’m not hearing that it is .” Coun. Kari Gares on the overdose prevention site in #vernonbc #opioidcrisis pic.twitter.com/YxmoM1XA12

— Tiffany Goodwein (@CityNewsTiffany) March 25, 2019

“This needs to be a collaborative approach, and I’m not hearing that it is,” said Coun Gares, who also expressed concerns about the overdose prevention site operating in the downtown core because of what she called a clustering effect.

“Our downtown location has Gateway Shelter, it has the temporary shelter right beside it, it has the Upper Room Mission right behind it, so we have a cluster of services that I believe is primarily why we are experiencing what we are experiencing, so my concern is, is that if we throw one more service into that cluster it’s like a ticking time bomb,”she said.

The representatives for Interior Health maintained that their main goal is to save lives and not to upset the community.

“We really want to understand what the no is about, why this community is different from other communities where this has been demonstrated to save lives, we would like to understand that,” said Dr. Goodison.

They also said that they are very early in the consultation process and more consultation is expected to happen once community partners start submitting their proposals.

Overdose prevention services are expected to operate as soon as this summer, according to Interior Health.