Harm Reduction Services Fund

Why this matters in Canada

The overdose crisis hit hardest where the drug supply changed fastest. As fentanyl and related compounds replaced heroin in much of the unregulated market, a single dose of unknown strength became able to stop someone's breathing within minutes. British Columbia declared a public health emergency over overdose deaths in 2016, and Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a few blocks where poverty, insecure housing and drug use overlap, has been at the center of it ever since.

Hospitals and paramedics respond after an overdose has happened; they cannot be in the room when it starts. A supervised site closes that gap. People who would otherwise use alone in alleys or in single-room hotels do so under the eye of trained staff who can give oxygen and naloxone at once. The same visit becomes a point of contact with nurses, wound care and referrals to detox or housing, for people who rarely walk into a clinic and are often turned away when they do.

What your gift pays for

• Peer-worker and support-staff shifts to watch over injection booths and respond to overdoses on the spot
• Naloxone, oxygen and first-aid supplies used to reverse overdoses before an ambulance is needed
• Sterile equipment and wound-care supplies that cut infection risk for people with nowhere safe to use
• Referral support linking visitors to detox beds, treatment programs and housing services