Victoria drug checking facility marks one year in community, plans to expand
In the fight against the toxic drug crisis, a downtown Victoria drug checking facility has hit its one year anniversary as a storefront.
Substance is a collaboration between University of Victoria students, graduates, and professors. The group checks street drugs to see what is in them, and if they are toxic. It's a service that Dave Keeler says has saved his life.
"You never know what you’re getting out there right now," he said Wednesday.
Substance relies on cutting edge technology to let illicit drug users know exactly what they are taking, and how strong it is.
"This way we empower users of drugs to make an informed decision,” said Substance co-founder and UVic chemistry professor Dennis Hore.
Substance is a storefront drug-checking clinic located in Victoria’s North Park neighbourhood. Its services have become more important than ever because street drugs are more toxic, and less predictable, than ever before, according to advocates.
"There's a reason why it's marked on the side of your beer can how strong it is, it allows you to control how much you're ingesting and the rate you're ingesting it at," said Fred Cameron with Solid Outreach Society.
"When you don’t know what you're getting, it’s too late once you plunge."
Substance celebrated its one year anniversary as a storefront Wednesday. Previously, it was less visible and operated in rotating locations, including basements.
Bruce Wallace is one of its co-founders. He says the new facility is in a more prominent physical location and brings a heightened presence in the community, which is important for reducing the stigma associated with drug addiction.
"The storefront is an anti-stigma campaign in real life," said Wallace. "Being able to not have to hide around drug use and being able to be open and have those exchanges with people."
The service is free and anonymous, and has been busier than ever during the pandemic.
More than 2,200 people died from drug overdoses in B.C. last year, and B.C.’s Chief Coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said Wednesday that a regulated safe supply of drugs is what's needed most to help curb the crisis.
But until that happens on a large scale, sites like Substance are critical, she says.
"[They provide] an ability to help manage their safety," said Lapointe
The team at Substance plans to expand to mobile locations around Vancouver Island to help folks in rural parts of the island manage their safety too.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.