Vancouver doctor says he will dispense opioids through Downtown Eastside vending machine

published on September 11, 2019 by Camille Bains in Global News BC

VANCOUVER – A doctor with an expertise in public health says he will soon be dispensing opioids through a vending machine in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in order to prevent overdoses from fentanyl-laced street drugs.

Dr. Mark Tyndall said the machine that’s been created in Toronto would scan a patient’s hand for identification before dispensing a pre-programmed number of hydromorphone pills that are a substitute for heroin.

The eight-milligram pills cost about 35 cents each and focus groups with drug users have suggested most people would need about 10 to 16 pills a day, said Tyndall, who is also a professor of medicine at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia…