A Nelson advocacy group formed to end BC’s toxic illicit drug crisis by replacing the deadly, unregulated supply with a regulated supply of known composition and potency says it is one of 14 groups across the province that has given away clean and tested supplies of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine to users.
According to a press release from the Kootenay Insurrection for Safe Supply, it “undertook this action in solidarity with our allies across the province as a protest against the continued lack of meaningful, or effective action by either the provincial or federal government to end the on-going unregulated drug poisoning crisis that is killing an average of 6-7 British Columbians every day.”
With the number of lives being lost, KISS says it refuses to make people wait longer for services to help members of the province.
“Solutions exist, and if the government will not implement those solutions, we will,” they say in the release..
KISS is supporting, and recommending, that the government implement action suggested by the British Columbia Coroners Service’s 2022 Death Review Panel.
Some of those recommendations are to create a provincial framework for safe supply distribution, in collaboration with the people who use drugs, including both medical and non-medical models.
The organization says the drugs were provided free by the Vancouver-based Drug User Liberation Front and in Nelson, KISS distributed them to known Nelson drug users over the age of consent.
They did not say how many people received drugs, or how much they received, but they say no one who used the drugs overdosed or died.