The Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) will no longer proceed with the controversial overdose prevention site (OPS) at 900 Helmcken Street.<\/p>\n
On May 5, VCH announced this new location for Thomus Donaghy OPS (TD OPS), between Burrard and Hornby Streets and\u00a0across the street from one of Vancouver\u2019s busiest hotels, the Sheraton Wall Centre.<\/p>\n
The lease term was set to begin on June 1, with services anticipated to begin shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n
Hours after this announcement, Mayor Ken Sim slammed the proposal<\/a> and subsequently passed a motion \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 \u201cVancouver will not support solutions that fail both those who are struggling and the communities around them,\u201d said Sim in a release, after a new location was announced. \u201cWe have seen the disastrous impact when OPS sites are introduced without the right planning, oversight, and accountability.\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.<\/p>\n B.C. Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, said in a statement that \u201cVancouver continues to experience the highest rates of unregulated drug deaths in B.C.\u201d and that it is \u201ccritical that people at risk of overdose have access to timely supports and services that save lives and help prevent serious harms, including brain injury.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she added that establishing OPS in the downtown core needs to support both vulnerable people and the\u00a0businesses, residents and workers in surrounding neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n She said she had heard concerns from the city, local businesses and community partners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, along with the Ministry of Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, are committed to taking steps to fully engage with stakeholders and the community ahead of any new site opening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There is no planned date for the OPS to open at this time.<\/p>\n The Helmcken Street location was to be the third location of the site.<\/p>\n It first opened in 2021 at\u00a01101 Seymour Street<\/a>. It closed\u00a0in 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