Overdose prevention sites in B.C. provide a wide range of health benefits, new study suggests

A new study suggests that the presence of more overdose prevention sites (OPS) in B.C. has been associated with a wide range of health benefits.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction on Thursday and was conducted by researchers from the B.C. Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and the University of British Columbia.
Researchers aimed to measure the impact of the OPS scale-up that began in Vancouver in 2016, in response to a dramatic rise in overdose deaths due to injection drug use.
At the time, research showed that the annual overdose death rate in B.C. was 20.4 per 100,000, which was a rate 84 per cent higher than in 2015. This prompted government officials to declare a public health emergency in April 2016.
For the study, 745 people who inject drugs in Vancouver were interviewed between January 2015 and November 2018 to find out how additional OPS changed supervised injection service use, public injection, and syringe change and addiction treatment participation. Two ongoing cohort studies based in the city were also used as part of the research.
Researchers found that due to the expansion of OPS, public injection in the area immediately decreased from about 36 per cent to 30 per cent, and syringe-sharing decreased from about 5 per cent to 2 per cent. In addition, the use of supervised consumption services immediately increased from about 41 per cent to 47 per cent.
According to the authors of the study, the findings build upon previous evidence that OPS can reduce fatal overdoses, reduce the transmission of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, as well as improve the well-being of neighbourhoods by reducing criminal activity.
"Overdose prevention sites are low-barrier settings that not only prevent overdose deaths, but also have the added benefit of bringing people into a supportive environment where they can get the help they need," said lead author and research scientist at the BCCSU Dr. Mary Clare Kennedy in a press release. “Given the worsening of the drug poisoning crisis across the country, access to these services should be expanded.”
According to the latest report from B.C.’s chief coroner, the death rate due to toxic illicit drugs has nearly doubled since 2016. As of September 2021, the rate was sitting at 39.4 deaths per 100,000 residents in the province.
B.C.’s chief coroner also noted in the report that fentanyl and its analogues have been detected in 84 per cent of all 2021 illicit drug deaths.
When the data from the report was released in earlier this month, B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions noted that the province had pledged $132 million in investments over the next three years for treatment and recovery. The provincial government has also requested a federal exemption that would allow B.C. to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs.
According to the new study, there are currently only 40 OPS operating in Canada, and only 38 federally sanctioned supervised consumption sites (SCS), which are similar to an OPS, but do not perform assisted injection. Areas such as Ontario for example, only have OPS in London, Toronto and Ottawa.
Researchers said that those who use drugs often prefer an OPS to an SCS due to the assisted injection component, as well as the fact that they are staffed by peers and hope to see more created in the future.
“This research shows exactly what we are seeing on the frontline - that OPS save lives in so many ways,” said Sarah Blyth, a co-founder of the Overdose Prevention Society in a press release. “I hope this information helps guide government officials.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Survivors scream as desperate rescuers work in Turkiye, Syria
Rescue workers and civilians passed chunks of concrete and household goods across mountains of rubble Monday, moving tons of wreckage by hand in a desperate search for survivors trapped by a devastating earthquake.

Rescuers scramble in Turkiye, Syria after quake kills 3,400
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,600 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.
New details emerge ahead of Trudeau-premiers' health-care meeting
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how the much-anticipated federal-provincial gathering will unfold.
The world's deadliest earthquakes since 2000
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkiye and Syria on Monday, killing thousands of people. Here is a list of some of the world's deadliest earthquakes since 2000.
Quebec minister 'surprised' asylum seekers given free bus tickets from New York City
Quebec's immigration minister says she was 'surprised' to learn the City of New York is helping to provide free bus tickets to migrants heading north to claim asylum in Canada.
opinion | Don Martin: Alarms going off over health-care privatization? Such an out-of-touch waste of hot political air
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'
'Buildings are broken': Calgary man in Turkiye describes disaster scene post-earthquake
Calgarians at home and abroad are reeling in the wake of a massive earthquake that struck a war-torn region near the border of Turkiye and Syria.
U.S. 6-year-old who shot teacher allegedly tried to choke another
A 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his first-grade teacher constantly cursed at staff and teachers, chased students around and tried to whip them with his belt and once choked another teacher 'until she couldn't breathe,' according to a legal notice filed by an attorney for the wounded teacher.
Strongest earthquake to hit Buffalo in decades causes 'surreal' rumbles in southern Ontario
A 3.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near Buffalo, N.Y. Monday morning was felt in southern Ontario, officials say.