As part of its plan to locate two safe consumption sites for drug users in Surrey, Fraser Health has submitted an application to Ottawa to make the idea a reality.
“We have made excellent progress over the past few months in consulting with our key stakeholders and the community surrounding these sites as part of the formal application process,” said Fraser Health Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Victoria Lee. “We will continue to have dialogue with Health Canada to move the approval process forward and remain committed to bringing supervised consumption services to Surrey as quickly as possible.”
Fraser Health first indicated last July it was looking to create safe injection sites to stave off a growing number of overdoses.
In December, Fraser Health identified two proposed sites for supervised consumption services in Surrey.
They will be integrated into existing health services at Quibble Creek Sobering and Assessment Centre on 94A Avenue, and on 135A Street in partnership with Lookout Emergency Aid Society.
The two sites were selected based upon an analysis of the data that showed Surrey has the highest rate of deaths due to drug overdoses in the Fraser Health region.
Now that the final portions of its application for supervised consumption services in Surrey have been submitted, Fraser Health expects to be speaking with Health Canada over the coming weeks in regard to moving forward.
