Podcast: A visit to Vancouver's safe injection site

LA Times
·1 min read
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - MAY 04: Ramzy (cq) Diryas (cq), 29, of Port Moody, injects fentanyl while using an injection booth at a supervised consumption site where clients inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of staff, located in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood. Clean injection equipment such as syringes, cookers, filters, water and tourniquets are supplied, in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Supervised consumption sites in the DTES give addicts who use fentanyl, opioids, crystal methamphetamine and other drugs a place to use and get harm reduction supplies; clean syringes, alcohol swabs, sterile water, tourniquets, spoons and filters. On April 14, 2016, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall declared a public health emergency under the Public Health Act due to the significant rise in opioid-related overdose deaths reported in B.C. since the beginning of 2016. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Someone injects fentanyl at a Vancouver safe injection site, where people can take drugs with clean needles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Overdose deaths in the United States have risen rapidly during the pandemic. It’s a trend driven largely by the spread of fentanyl.

In California, the push to save lives and stop the fallout has led some activists and politicians to propose safe injection sites — places where people can take drugs with clean needles, without fear of arrest. There’s already one site like this operating in San Francisco.

But in Vancouver, Canada, there’s a neighborhood that has hosted a safe injection site for almost 20 years. In today's episode, we go visit it.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times columnist Anita Chabria

More reading:

Column: Vancouver’s safe drug-use sites are wrenching to see. California should open them anyway

In a bid to stop overdose deaths, California could allow drug use at supervised sites

With overdose deaths rising, here’s how to test drugs for fentanyl

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.