A free street drug testing site has opened in Victoria’s North Park neighbourhood to provide anonymous drug testing to anyone who needs it. The storefront is part of an innovative harm reduction approach operated by the Vancouver Island Drug Checking project, started by a group of scientists from the University of Victoria.

The City of Vancouver is organizing a multi-agency taskforce to generate engagement and harm reduction strategies as at-risk populations in the area face greater challenges during the crisis.

Host Alex de Boer gets comment from Trey Helton, Manager of Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society and Jonathan Orr, Program Manager for Raincity Housing’s Peer Services. Trey and Jonathan comment on changing conditions in the City’s overdose prevention sites and share their questions about Vancouver’s new safe supply. Podcast: UBC’s CiTR 101.9 FM focused on alternative and locally-based programming

The City’s Community Action Team to help the roughly 20–30% of drug users not connected to the health care system make sure they can access a safe supply. For everyone else, the City is planning for safe supply to be enabled through existing physician relationships, with more details to be announced by the Province.

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