Overdose prevention group gets Christmas gift: a new, indoor facility

A volunteer group that encourages people who use drugsto figuratively come in from the cold is now literally coming in from the cold just in time for winter.

The Overdose Prevention Society is getting a permanent indoor spaceafter working out of tents and trailers for its first year.

The society operates a harm-reduction site for people who use drugs. In their first year, they estimate they have seen 100,000 visits and prevented almost 300 overdoses, but cold weather can make things tricky.

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"It's definitely more difficult with freezing cold hands to give someone Narcan and the proper health services that they need," organizer Sarah Blyth told The Early Edition host Rick Cluff. "We wanted to be in before Christmas and we wanted to be in before it got snowy.

"It just is going to make everyone's lives a lot easier. It's going to make it so we can help save people's lives not in miserable conditions."

Listen to the full interview:

Blyth says the new location, on the zero block of East Hastings Street, is a building owned by B.C. Housing.

Working with BC Housing, the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Coastal Health, Blythsaid they'veput together a plan for the new facility.

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It will be furnished with seating and tables through a donation from the Central City Foundation and members of the public, Blyth said, and her group will also work to connect people using drugs withhousing, counselling and health services resources.

The existing site which is right next door to the indoor facility will remain open, Blyth said. That will allow people to smoke drugs under supervision which can't be done indoors.

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Beyond improving safety for drug users, Blyth hopes the new facility will help give them hope at Christmas time.

"Christmas can be a difficult time for most people, but it can be more difficult for people who are living in an alley," she said. "So we want to make sure we're there for people all through the season."

Blyth says she will pick up the keys to the new Overdose Prevention Society location Monday and open its doors Tuesday.

With files from CBC Radio One's The Early Edition