A Fraser Health Authority website that offered free, safe drug use equipment has been revamped after British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concerns about the issue.
Harm reduction products such as pipes, inhalation kits and syringes, previously available on the Fraser Health Authority portal, have been replaced with resources and tips to help prevent overdoses.
Premier David Eby confirmed he ordered the change because he was concerned about the website.
We asked the Fraser Health Authority to review the site and make sure it emphasized certain points, Eby said, citing access to addiction treatment and overdose prevention resources.
I am pleased that our government continues to focus on access to treatment and doing its best to keep people alive so they have the opportunity to receive treatment.
A quote from David Eby, Premier of British Columbia
Elenore Sturko, the Conservative MP for Surrey South, says it was difficult to find treatment help at the original site, but she questions the reasons for the changes two months before the election.
After seven years of a program focused primarily on harm reduction, the premier is trying to tell British Columbians that his focus is now on treatment and prevention, she said.
I think the last seven years speak for themselves. A worsening of living conditions on the streets that everyone can see.
A quote from Eleonore Sturko, Conservative MP for Surrey South
Fraser Health says treatment is essential and despite changes to the website, a full range of products are still available free of charge at public health centres.
A practice that saves lives
It’s a decision that appears to be politically motivated, says Anmol Swaich, a community organizer with the Surrey Union of Drug Users (SUDU), a social movement of drug users in Surrey.
The group says providing people with a safe supply saves lives and reduces health care costs, but the issue has become political with the upcoming election.
Limiting access to this equipment will further burden our health care system, because these measures not only prevent HIV and hepatitis C, but also wound and skin infections, says Swaich.
In the end, she said, it is the health care system and people struggling with addiction who lose out from these changes.
With information from Meera Bains
