Health Canada allows oral and nasal use of drugs at 2 B.C. consumption sites
VANCOUVER — Drug users at supervised consumption sites is Surrey, B.C., have been allowed to use substances orally and nasally, not just by injection, in the first such exemption approved by Health Canada.
The two sites, SafePoint and the Quibble Creek Sobering and Assessment Centre, opened separately earlier this month but permitted users to only inject drugs under medical supervision.
Fraser Health submitted applications for the facilities asking that users also be allowed to snort or ingest drugs but Health Canada did not grant the request when it allowed the sites to open.
The approval announced Tuesday means drug users are exempt from laws involving possession and trafficking of controlled substances even if they consume their own substances by means other than shooting up.