Doctors open two unsanctioned overdose prevention sites at Vancouver Island hospitals

A group of Vancouver Island addiction medicine physicians set up temporary unsanctioned overdose prevention sites outside hospitals in Victoria and Nanaimo on Monday to protest what they say is government inaction on plans for the harm reduction service.Security guards employed by the Vancouver Island Health Authority dismantled the tents twice at Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital Monday morning before the volunteers set up on a city boulevard across the street. In Nanaimo, the protest site opened across the street from the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital without a hitch. The volunteers say they plan to run the twin sites for at least the first three days of this week.