People who need addiction services feel ‘abandoned’ during pandemic

published on April 9, 2020 by Camille Bains in CBC News - BC

British Columbia’s former provincial health officer says he has “grave concerns” about reduced services for people struggling with drug addiction, while the manager of a supervised consumption site in Toronto says people are feeling abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Perry Kendall declared an ongoing public health emergency in B.C. four years ago as the province led the country with a record number of overdose deaths fuelled by the opioid fentanyl.

Services were ramped up through more overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites in B.C., as was distribution of take-home kits of naloxone, a medication used to reverse overdoses.

“We were making steps and strides in addressing stigma and creating access to a continuum of care, from harm reduction to medication assistance or to recovery, if that was your goal,” said Kendall, co-interim executive director of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use…