Permanent drug-inhalation site opens in Victoria
CTV
A permanent drug-inhalation site has opened in downtown Victoria, in what health authorities say is the first indoor facility of its kind in North America.
A permanent drug-inhalation site has opened in downtown Victoria, in what health authorities say is the first indoor facility of its kind in North America.
The fully enclosed inhalation site at 941 Pandora Ave. replaces a temporary inhalation site which has operated across the street at 926 Pandora Ave. since November 2021.
Health authorities say the new service is in response to the growing number of fatalities reported among drug-users who smoke.
"The unpredictable poisoned drug supply continues to take lives at a tragic, unacceptable rate across B.C., including in Victoria,” Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.'s minister of mental health and addictions, said in a statement Thursday.
"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."
Approximately 2,039 British Columbians died of toxic drugs in the first 10 months of the year, including 130 people in Greater Victoria, according to the latest data from the B.C. Coroners Service.
The permanent inhalation site is located alongside the Harbour safe-consumption site as part of a broader treatment and recovery centre that local health officials envision for the location.
Sea Bears centre Chad Posthumus has died at age 33.
Alberta’s government is poised to overhaul the province’s auto insurance system, with a no-fault model emerging as the most likely, offered to counter rising premiums.
Next week, Sudbury city council will decide how to rehabilitate the College Street underpass, which was built in 1949.
A Toronto-area woman who was defrauded out of $158,000 in a roofing scam over the summer received about half her money back following a tip from a CTV News viewer.
It's official — Quebec has set a new record for the most stolen vehicles recovered in one year by Canadian border agents.
Facing criticism for requiring health care workers with two jobs within the public system to choose one to comply with labour laws, Santé Québec has announced a one-year extension to the transition period.
The consortium responsible for building Ottawa's new north-south line, TransitNext, says it is ready for the City of Ottawa to begin the final phase of approvals before opening the line to the public.
Former Saskatchewan Party MLA Greg Lawrence has been sentenced to 12 months probation – after pleading guilty to one count of assault.
Several thousand British Columbians remain in the dark Wednesday morning after a windstorm known as a bomb cyclone slammed coastal communities.
A man who plead guilty to a double stabbing in 2015 will soon be out on statutory release, but he'll have to follow some strict conditions set out by the parole board.
A school bus hit parked vehicles and pushed one into a Middle Sackville, N.S., home Wednesday afternoon.