B.C. Premier David Eby has requested a review of a program that distributes free drug items and testing kits at three hospitals after a viral video from a Conservative candidate brought attention to the vending machines providing them.
“That’s what I’ve asked the minister of mental health and addictions to have a look at to make sure that we’re meeting that expectation that I have, and that I think every British Columbian has,” Eby said at a news conference on Aug. 27.
Vancouver Island’s health agency introduced three “Care and Connection Kiosks” at hospitals in Victoria, Nanaimo, and Campbell River in October 2023.
Island Health said the vending machines offer community members an “innovative way to access free, life-saving, harm reduction supplies,” as well as information about mental health and substance abuse services and treatments.
The vending machines dispense free items such as glass pipes, cocaine smoking kits, naloxone kits, drug-testing kits, condoms, and syringes. Island Health stated that research has proven the vending machines can reduce overdose rates, decrease new HIV and Hepatitis C infections, and provide more naloxone and testing kits than in-person services.
Eby announced the review after BC Conservative candidate for Nanaimo–Lantzville Gwen O’Mahony posted a video to social media on Aug. 26 expressing her concerns with the vending machines. In the
video posted to X, O’Mahony orders a crack inhalation kit and cocaine snorting kit from a vending machine outside Nanaimo Hospital.
“Unfortunately, the crack pipes were out, which is no surprise since crack pipes can be traded for drugs,” she says.
Since January 2023, B.C. has implemented a three-year pilot project that decriminalizes possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine. While advocates of safer
supply say the drugs have saved lives and prevented the spread of HIV, opponents argue that people use them as currency to acquire more potent drugs.
Eby requested Health Canada on April 26 to modify the exemption order to decriminalize the use of those drugs in public spaces like hospitals, parks, and transit areas. “While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe,” he stated in a press release.
B.C.’s drug decriminalization policies have faced criticism from local politicians, healthcare workers, and law enforcement officers. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre
has also voiced opposition to the policy and urged Parliament to hold an emergency debate on the matter.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
asserts that B.C.’s decriminalization policies place emphasis on a “public health response” to tackle the overdose crisis. “We’re going to continue to take an approach grounded in public health, not criminal justice, for people living with addictions,” he told reporters in May.
