An Interior Health building at 235 Lansdowne Street will soon be expanding its services to include an overdose prevention site.
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March 23, 2022 - 5:06 PM
A new supervised drug consumption site is moving into a downtown Kamloops building.
Interior Health is consolidating services, from two other locations already available in Kamloops, into the downtown location.
At 235 Lansdowne St., the supervised drug consumption site will be at the current mental health and substance use facility, but the new service for drug users offers more for clients.
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An Interior Health spokesperson would not comment on the details of the move, but did confirm the plan to "consolidate" the services to the Lansdowne Street location.
The current supervised consumption site on Seymour Street beside the Crossroads Inn is hosted in an RV, but the permanent site will soon be moved once renovations are finished.
Interior Health is letting neighbours nearby aware of the changes and consulting with those businesses as it plans to phase in the new services.
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"We fully anticipate this will be a positive development for the community," a letter from Interior Health reads. "Interior Health mental health and substance use services is already a long-time tenant of this building and we are committed to continuing to be a good neighbour."
While offering overdose prevention services at the new building, Interior Health can also offer other treatment and medical services to clients by bringing it all under one roof. By having these services available, the health authority aims to address the continued increase of overdose deaths in the region.
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Although Kamloops and the province continue to see record overdose deaths due to a toxic drug supply, no known deaths have happened in a B.C. overdose prevention site.
The letter handed to nearby businesses does not provide a date for its opening, but Interior Health expects to release more information to the public, Monday, March 28.
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