FILE PHOTO - An injection kit is shown at Insite, a safe injection facility in Vancouver, on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
August 24, 2016 - 4:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - With Kamloops being considered for a location for a safe consumption service for illicit drug users, a local business association is looking to its members for guidance.
The North Shore Business Improvement Association is surveying its membership to find out what the business owners think.
Executive director Steve Puhallo says the survey was sent out earlier this month and information is being collected by the association now. It will be presented to the organization’s board on Sept. 8.
"We are very concerned about the supervised injection site proposed for Kamloops and have serious questions about where it could be located,” he says. “We are currently informing and canvassing our businesses about this issue."
Feedback from the survey won’t be shared until after the presentation to the board, Puhallo says.
The Interior Health Authority is considering a safe consumption service, also known as a safe injection site, for Kamloops as overdose deaths in the area rise, in part due to the use of fentanyl.
Public health officer Dr. Silvina Mema has said she’d like to present to city council in early September to begin discussions about if and where a safe consumption service would be located in Kamloops. Public consultation will happen before a location is chosen.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016