Hospital vending machines to dispense needles, naloxone on Vancouver Island

B.C. restricts public drug use The B.C. government has put forth a new law that prohibits illicit drugs in public spaces. Abigail Turner has the details.

Drug users will soon be able to access harm reduction supplies, such as needles, naloxone and drug-testing strips, from vending machines at three Vancouver Island hospitals.

The machines, which Island Health refers to as "Care and Connection Kiosks," will begin operating at Victoria General Hospital, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, and Campbell River's North Island Hospital in late October.

Located outside hospital emergency departments, the machines will freely dispense condoms, wound-care supplies, naloxone kits, drug-testing kits, syringes and safe disposal containers, as well as information on substance use treatment and mental health supports.

Health officials say the kiosks are an alternative for people who currently visit emergency rooms in search of harm reduction supplies, adding the machines are stocked with the most-requested items.

Approximately 304 people died from illicit drug use in the Vancouver Island health region in the first eight months of 2023, according to Island Health data.

The health authority says each kiosk will be stocked and maintained by a full-time addiction and recovery worker who will help ensure users can connect with substance-use supports.

"We know that shame and blame can keep people who use drugs from asking for help and not accessing the means they need to stay safer, which can often be fatal," Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.'s minister of mental health and addictions, said in a statement Wednesday.

"These new Care and Connection Kiosks are discreet and always open, making it easier for more people to get the life-saving supplies and treatment information they need where and when they need it."

Island Health says harm reduction kiosks such as these can reduce overdose rates, decrease HIV and Hepatitis C transmission, and distribute more life-saving naloxone and testing strips than in-person services.

Campbell River outreach worker Andy Speck, who will be assigned to the new machine at the North Island Hospital, says the kiosk will help support workers connect with drug users who are falling through the cracks of existing services.

"We’re missing a real target group: People working in trades, primarily men, who don’t want to be associated with harm reduction services because they worry they could be seen and then lose their job," he said. "Having a kiosk like this is amazing and will absolutely save lives."

More than 1,600 British Columbians died of toxic, unregulated drugs in the first eight months of 2023, and at least 12,929 have died since the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in April 2016, according to the latest data from the BC Coroners Service.