Mayor Ken Sim is hoping to block a proposed overdose prevention site (OPS) in downtown Vancouver.<\/p>\n
His announcement came hours after Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) announced the new location for the Thomus Donaghy OPS (TD OPS) at 900 Helmcken Street, between Burrard and Hornby Streets.<\/p>\n
That site is right across the street from one of Vancouver\u2019s busiest hotels, the Sheraton Wall Centre.<\/p>\n
Sim will bring forward a motion at Tuesday\u2019s Council meeting, which would direct City staff to \u201c\u2018use all tools available to the City\u2019 including permitting, licensing, servicing, and legal settlements as bases to prevent the opening of the new OPS.\u201d<\/p>\n
The OPS provides supervised consumption, drug checking, and other harm reduction services. Since the Province declared the toxic-drug crisis a public health emergency in 2016, illicit drugs have been the \u201cleading cause\u201d of death in B.C. for people aged 10 to 59, according to a release from VCH.<\/p>\n
B.C issued a ministerial order in 2016, which directed all regional health boards and B.C. Emergency Health Services to have overdose prevention services \u201cin any place required.\u201d<\/p>\n
This would be the third location of the site. It first opened in 2021 at 1101 Seymour Street,<\/a>\u00a0and closed in 2024 after the municipal government did not renew the lease due to controversy, including complaints of public disorder, strewn garbage and needles, crime and public safety issues, and sidewalk encampments.<\/p>\n