Doctors on Vancouver Island say they91裸聊视频檙e setting up unsanctioned overdose prevention sites on the grounds of Nanaimo General and Victoria's Royal Jubilee hospitals this week because the B.C. government hasn91裸聊视频檛 lived up to its promise to set aside space for the sites.

Dr. Jess Wilder, an addictions and family medicine practitioner in Nanaimo, says her work has been mired in 91裸聊视频渃ontroversy and politicization91裸聊视频� lately, and setting up overdose prevention sites is 91裸聊视频渁bout saving lives.91裸聊视频�

Wilder says the B.C. government pledged to open sites at every hospital in the province back in April, but those never materialized and she and other health care professionals have put up their own funds and time to run the 91裸聊视频減op-up91裸聊视频� sites throughout the week.

She says the country is in the middle of the biggest public health crisis its ever seen, and the B.C. government has had a ministerial order that dictates that 91裸聊视频渙verdose prevention sites can and should, and must be set up in any place where they are needed.91裸聊视频�

Wilder says seeing patients needlessly die has caused doctors much 91裸聊视频渕oral distress,91裸聊视频� while politicians have seized upon addictions services with harmful narratives and expert voices like hers have been sidelined.

Wilder says a candidate in the last provincial election posted a TikTok video opposing a harm reduction vending machine at a hospital, and it was removed days later.

91裸聊视频淲e have been fighting for interventions like that, for such a simple thing as a machine that can give somebody a condom or a clean needle, if they91裸聊视频檙e going to do the harmful thing anyway,91裸聊视频� Wilder said.

91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檝e been fighting for that for years and the fact that somebody who has no medical expertise can post a video on social media and have that be more impactful on the services that I91裸聊视频檓 able to provide my patients than anything that I91裸聊视频檝e been doing for years is pretty devastating.91裸聊视频�

Dr. Ryan Herriot, who practices both family and addictions medicine in Victoria, said they91裸聊视频檙e setting up the sites on the day the new B.C. government is being sworn-in, and when welfare recipients get their cheques.

Herriot said the day people get their cheques 91裸聊视频渋s the most lethal day every month,91裸聊视频� for drug users, and he said dissatisfaction among people in his field has been 91裸聊视频減ercolating slowly.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淎 decision was taken that, you know, we need to put our voices in the public sphere,91裸聊视频� Herriot said. 91裸聊视频淚 think what91裸聊视频檚 happened over the last couple of years is experts have been reticent to speak out, to kind of step out of their clinical role and that has allowed non-experts to fill that void unfortunately.91裸聊视频�

The sites are being set up at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and Nanaimo General Hospital, and Herriot, Wilder and others plan to run them all through this week.