B.C. enacts ministerial order to create overdose prevention sites
VANCOUVER — British Columbia has enacted a ministerial order to support the creation of overdose-prevention sites, a move the province’s health minister describes as an “extraordinary measure.”
Terry Lake said the order gives provincial emergency health services and regional health authorities the power to provide overdose-prevention treatment as necessary on an emergency basis.
“We know we were on good legal ground to do that,” Lake told reporters Monday. “Having the ministerial order in place really just makes it a little more solid in terms of any criticism or concern that the federal government might have.”
B.C.’s announcement last week that it would be opening a string of overdose-prevention sites across the province without applying for federal permission has drawn little flak from Ottawa.