An attempt by doctors to set up overdose prevention sites on hospital property in Nanaimo and Victoria were shutdown Monday by the Island health authority, forcing the volunteers to move their operations across the street.

Doctors and other volunteers tried to set up sites on the grounds of Nanaimo General and Royal Jubilee hospitals over frustration that the B.C. government hasnB次元官网网址檛 lived up to its promise to set aside space for overdose prevention at the health-care facilities.

Dr. Jess Wilder, an addictions and family medicine practitioner in Nanaimo, said her work has been mired in B次元官网网址渃ontroversy and politicizationB次元官网网址� lately, and the prevention sites are B次元官网网址渁bout saving lives.B次元官网网址�

She said volunteers in Nanaimo were met by police and hospital security who told organizers they werenB次元官网网址檛 allowed on hospital grounds and could be physically removed and arrested for trespassing.

Wilder said volunteers then established the overdose prevention site across the street from the hospital.

Dr. R茅ka Gustafson, Island Health chief medical health officer, said in a statement Monday that the health authority B次元官网网址渋s focused on enhancing care and connecting people to health services wherever they are at in their journey, particularly in the face of the enduring toxic drug crisis.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淓nsuring the safety of our staff, medical staff, patients, volunteers and visitors is of paramount importance. Operating an unapproved clinical service or demonstration on Island Health property cannot be supported, the statement said. B次元官网网址淭hat is why our protection services teams worked respectfully with organizers to ensure their planned activities did not occur on Island Health property.B次元官网网址�

Wilder said the B.C. government pledged to open sites at every hospital in the province back in April, but those never materialized and she and other health care professionals have put up their own time and money to run the B次元官网网址減op-upB次元官网网址� sites throughout the week.

She said the country is in the middle of the biggest public health crisis it has ever seen, and the B.C. government has had a ministerial order that dictates that B次元官网网址渙verdose prevention sites can and should, and must be set up in any place where they are needed.B次元官网网址�

Wilder says that seeing patients needlessly die has caused doctors much B次元官网网址渕oral distress,B次元官网网址� while politicians have seized upon addictions services with harmful narratives and expert voices like hers have been sidelined.

Wilder said a candidate in the last provincial election posted a TikTok video opposing a harm reduction vending machine at a hospital, and it was removed days later.

B次元官网网址淲e have been fighting for interventions like that, for such a simple thing as a machine that can give somebody a condom or a clean needle, if theyB次元官网网址檙e going to do the harmful thing anyway,B次元官网网址� Wilder said.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e been fighting for that for years and the fact that somebody who has no medical expertise can post a video on social media and have that be more impactful on the services that IB次元官网网址檓 able to provide my patients than anything that IB次元官网网址檝e been doing for years is pretty devastating.B次元官网网址�

Dr. Ryan Herriot, who has a family and addictions medicine practice in Victoria, said theyB次元官网网址檙e setting up the sites on the day the new B.C. government is being sworn-in, and when welfare recipients get their cheques.

Herriot said the day people get their cheques B次元官网网址渋s the most lethal day every month,B次元官网网址� for drug users, and he said dissatisfaction among people in his field has been B次元官网网址減ercolating slowly.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎 decision was taken that, you know, we need to put our voices in the public sphere,B次元官网网址� Herriot said. B次元官网网址淚 think whatB次元官网网址檚 happened over the last couple of years is experts have been reticent to speak out, to kind of step out of their clinical role and that has allowed non-experts to fill that void unfortunately.B次元官网网址�

The organizers of the sites are part of a group called Doctors for Safer Drug Policy, and Herriot said they B次元官网网址減lan to be a physician voice for harm reduction, particularly in British Columbia, but maybe even beyond.B次元官网网址�

He said experts have been B次元官网网址渃omplacentB次元官网网址� and too B次元官网网址渄isengaged from the public conversationB次元官网网址� around harm reduction and drug policy.

Herriot, Wilder and other volunteers plan to run the prevention sites through this week.