Since opening their first Injection Site in Vancouver BC, overdose deaths have increased by over 400%. They draw in addicts and dealers from all over, yet they can only inject so many people, and can only be open so many hours in a day. Addicts, more often than not, will need to go somewhere else to use. So while these “safe injection sites” will tout how they “prevent overdoses within their walls”, we believe that they will actually be counter-productive as a harm reduction strategy and overdose deaths will increase OUTIDE those walls (as we have seen at InSite in recent years).

And lastly, for those addicts that will inevitably become patrons of the CHEL’s, their extended drug use will have severe and permanent mental and physical damage over time. They WILL pass a point of no return, and no level of sobriety will give them the capacity to live an independent and fulfilling life. THIS is NOT compassion.