Nanaimo drug consumption site deemed nuisance by council

The nuisance properties include a safe consumption site at 264 Nichol St., operated by the Nanaimo Area of Network Drug Users. (CTV News)

Nanaimo city council has officially designated two properties as nuisances after receiving several complaints about ongoing illegal activities.

The two properties are a safe consumption site at 264 Nichol St., operated by the Nanaimo Area of Network Drug Users (NANDU), and a home at 430 Murray St.

A nuisance property falls under a city bylaw which allows the city to charge property owners $250 every time city services or the RCMP are called.

NANDU is run by a group of volunteers who support people using illegal drugs and sees roughly 200 people a day use their site.

"If we don’t smarten up, and the people that come to NANDU don’t smarten up, we are going to have to close down," said Sara Edmondson, a NANDU volunteer who spoke at the Monday nights council meeting.

"We can’t afford any of the bills they’re saying we might get."

Since it opened, NANDU has been subject to multiple complaints from the surrounding community.

The city would like to see more support from the province and Island Health when it comes to safe consumption sites.

"We can't dehumanize them in this situation," says Coun. Paul Manly. "We do need overdose prevention sites but that can’t come at the expense of the peaceful enjoyment of people in the area."

At the same council meeting, the Murray Street home in the city’s south end was also deemed a nuisance property.

The home has required repeated calls to the RCMP for alleged drug activity and social disorder.

Last month, the RCMP’s emergency response team executed a search warrant on the property to secure evidence in a violent stabbing investigation.

"The home is being considered as a nuisance property but has yet to receive that designation," Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary O’Brien said last month. "The search warrant carried out today will certainly add more substance to our recommendation that it be declared a nuisance."