Health officials seek input on safe consumption sites in Victoria

VICTORIA — Health officials in Victoria are looking to open two supervised drug consumption sites, and they’re asking the public for feedback.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority says a planning group has been working since January to create a plan that would meet the needs of several groups, including people who use illicit drugs, local residents and police.

The group looked at data on where drugs are used and where overdoses are reported, and have identified the downtown and Rock Bay areas as high-priority locations for the sites.

The health authority’s chief medical health officer Dr. Richard Stanwick says in a statement that such facilities improve health, connect people with services and decrease health-care costs.