Vancouver's approach to the Overdose Crisis

What we're doing

Vancouver has long been at the forefront of innovative approaches to addressing substance use and has taken steps, such as:

• Seeking to decriminalize simple possession of illicit drugs in Vancouver
• Approving the Four Pillars Drug Strategy
• Hosting North America’s first legal safe injection site and needle exchange
• Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Addiction
• Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force

We report updates on our collaborative efforts and share the latest data with Council.

To prevent more drug poisonings and overdose deaths, we're working with political leaders at all levels on strategies for addressing the overdose crisis and increasing access to a safe supply. We're working collaboratively with our partners, including Indigenous health leaders and people with lived and living experience, to support community-based initiatives and de-stigmatize mental health and substance use. We also work to address the social determinants of mental health and substance use, such as access to low-barrier employment, Indigenous healing and wellness, housing and homelessness, washrooms and water, and food security.

Our work is done in partnership with people affected by the crisis, non-profit and advocacy groups, urban Indigenous organizations, housing providers, researchers, health and emergency services, and people who use drugs. 

Indigenous community members living and working in the Downtown East Side (DTES) continue to be disproportionately impacted by the overdose crisis due to systemic racism and colonization. Indigenous-led initiatives, culture and ceremony, and Indigenous peers and Elders' involvement are essential in saving lives during the overdose crisis. The City is committed to investing in, and working alongside, these community-led initiatives.

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  Community Action Team

  The Vancouver Community Action Team (CAT), co-chaired by the City and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), represents approximately 25 organizations and people who use drugs who are working on or are affected by the crisis. The CAT, which has been awarded $100,000 for the third year of funding from the Province, is working on several initiatives to raise awareness of the crisis, destigmatize perceptions about people who use drugs, advocate for change, and support groups are responding to the crisis. 

  The CAT also funded several non-profit projects that are taking a community focused approach to addressing the overdose crisis.

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  Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force

  In December 2018, Council approved one-time funding of $500,000 for the Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force. 

  The Mayors Task Force focused on the following initiatives:

  Advocacy and legal reform

  Current drug laws stigmatize and criminalize drug users which can prevent people from using safely and accessing harm reduction and treatment services. We strongly advocate for people who use drugs at all levels of government and push for progressive legal reform to save lives and prevent overdose deaths.

  For example, City Council unanimously passed a motion brought forward by Mayor Kennedy Stewart to ask the federal government to decriminalize the simple possession of illicit drugs in Vancouver. On January 27, Health Canada agreed to begin formal discussions with the City to move this plan forward. Decriminalization of illicit drug possession is a necessary next step to reduce the stigma associated with substance use and encourage people at risk to access lifesaving harm reduction and treatment services. 

  We also worked to expand safe supply access, including access to safe places to use, especially during COVID.

  Access to services

  Access to safe washrooms is essential to support hygiene services for those who are at high risk of overdose, gender-based violence, and the compounding impacts of health inequities in a dual public health emergency. Through the Federal government’s Reaching Home program and in partnership with Atira Property Management, WISH Drop-In Centre (WISH), Society and Overdose Prevention Society and private landowners we opened two new temporary washroom trailers and successfully relocated another. We also installed three new temporary washroom trailers that are monitored by peers from WISH, RainCity Housing, and the Overdose Prevention Society and have overdose response and prevention programs in place. 

  To reduce the risk of people using alone, we provided a City owned space for an Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) in the Downtown South neighbourhood, and relocated an overdose prevention space to 99 East Pender that includes an existing inhalation tent along with overdose prevention response and a washroom trailer. The City has also leased space to VCH to open an overdose prevention space at 1101 Seymour St to address the need for harm reduction supports in the Downtown South area, operated by RainCity Housing and Supports Society.

  MEDIC11, a new medic unit that provides vital services to vulnerable citizens in the downtown eastside, was put into service in late 2020, strengthening our ability to respond to safety incidents the Downtown East Side and Strathcona Park. It allows other fire suppression vehicles to be available for fires, motor vehicle incidents, and rescue calls. We also allocated funding for a dedicated position at Vancouver Fire Rescue Services to operate the Combined Overdose Response Team. The Captain- Strategic Health Initiatives oversee the Team and other programs that reduce instead of respond to overdoses.

  Community partnerships and support

  We supported Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to launch a mobile overdose prevention van, operated by PHS Community Services Society, which operates in the Downtown South and Commercial Broadway areas and acts as a needle depot with access to clean supplies and a witnessed injection site.

  We also supported two health clinics by developing service access planning and creating a temporary overdose prevention site at St Paul’s Hospital. We are facilitating a strong partnership between Vancouver Fire Rescue Services and VCH that connects high-risk users with support services by bridging existing gaps between prehospital, acute, and continuing care. 

  We embed the need for safer spaces for people who use drugs in our broader City work. For example, to create safer spaces for people who use drugs we provide naloxone, anti-stigma, harm reduction, and cultural safety training to security staff who work at City operated spaces. We also continued to develop more supportive housing across Vancouver to ensure that people who use drugs and are experiencing homelessness can move into safe homes with wraparound services. Since 2017, the City and BC Housing has partnered to create more than 1,000 supportive housing units in Vancouver and recently announced an MOU to create another 450 in the coming years.