'Pop-up' safe consumption site opens in Nanaimo City Hall parking lot

Officials set up pop-up site for drug users Saying he's fed up with watching people die, a Nanaimo city councillor has opened a makeshift overdose prevention site just steps from City.

A Nanaimo councillor who says he’s fed up with the number of illicit drug overdoses in the Harbour City has taken matters into his own hands.

Saying he’s tired of watching people die from opioids like fentanyl, Gord Fuller has installed an overdose prevention tent just steps away from Nanaimo City Hall with help from members of the community.

The makeshift shelter tucked away in the corner of a parking lot was designed to be a safe haven for drug users, Fuller said.

“We need to do something now,” he said. “The goal of doing this is to save lives, and if one person comes through here and we save their life then we’ve done our job.”

The site isn’t mandated by Island Health, which has opened other pop-up consumption sites in places like Victoria and Vancouver

But volunteers say an unprecedented opioid crisis that has seen 25 deaths in the city through November this year, the highest per capita increase in B.C., calls for unique measures.

“This is a crisis,” said Nanaimo Coun. Jim Kipp. “This needs to be done, so this is a bit of a protest as well as a manner to make something happen.”

Not everyone agrees with the parking lot overdose prevention tent.

One Nanaimo resident said he was glad to see people trying to save drug users’ lives, but wasn’t sure it was the right way of going about it.

“I have mixed feelings about it because I realize they’re trying to keep people alive, but there’s this idea of enabling people to do harm to themselves,” said Dale Shulz. “I think a lot of times maybe they should just have a better way of treating the addiction than enabling people.”

In a statement, Island Health said it is addressing the crisis by “working closely with the City of Nanaimo, law enforcement and community partners to establish and Overdose Prevention Site in Nanaimo, expected to be up and running within the first week of January.”

Volunteers say they can’t wait another week and action is needed now.

“We could save in Nanaimo maybe 20 people, and help them and get them harm reduction. That’s the purpose of this,” said Kipp.

The tent will be supervised from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.