Nine years into B.C.'s toxic drug crisis, all Amber Streukens can hope for is that a tent set up next to the highway in Nelson shows just how little is needed to save lives.
Streukens, program co-ordinator of the Rural Empowered Drug Users Network (REDUN), organized a temporary inhalation site Monday to mark the nine-year anniversary of the toxic drug crisis in B.C.
Nelson has just one overdose prevention site located at ANKORS, which hosted REDUN's tent in its parking lot. But it only allows for injections, not inhalation, which the coroners service says is the most common form of consumption.
“Given that we're nine years in and we haven't seen the expected expansion of overdose prevention services, we thought showing that people who use drugs can do overdose prevention services would be a visible way of speaking back to the lack of progress being made by the province,” said Streukens.
The influx of fentanyl into B.C.'s drug supply has led to 16,502 deaths from 2016 through to the end of January 2025, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. Sixty-four people have died from toxic drugs in the Nelson area during that time.
In 2023, public backlash to a proposed inhalation site led to Interior Health scrapping the plans. The building that was to house the inhalation site was put up for sale by Interior Health in March.
That was a disappointment to Streukens, who said the need still exists in Nelson for permanent inhalation services. But she concedes it is unlikely to happen now in the city.
“The discussion is dead. Nelson is an unfavourable place to try to set up harm-reduction business right now," she said.
"We're seeing a lot of like pushback from community organizations and business owners, and it's unfortunate, because I think that at the end of the day many of our concerns are the same. None of us want people dying on the sidewalk. None of us want rising homelessness or violent crime or things that have been inappropriately attached to the toxic drug crisis.”
Streukens said an inhalation site would ideally be located indoors in a ventilated space. But failing that, temporary pop-up sites operated by harm-reduction services offer a cheap alternative. Monday's event in Nelson featured only the tent, a table and chairs, and a few hovering staff with naloxone kits nearby.
The challenge, Streukens said, is to find a willing landlord and secure funding to pay for staff and supplies.
Community support, she added, would also be required, but that might be the biggest hurdle to any inhalation site. REDUN's pop-up was not publicized beforehand, except to the City of Nelson and Nelson Police Department, in an effort to avoid any negative confrontations.
That also meant the tent was sparsely attended by substance users, which didn't matter to Streukens. The statement, she said, was more important than drawing a crowd.
“It’s a quiet but overt way of speaking back to inaction and just symbolize that there’s solidarity and that people care and we can and will keep fighting this thing.”
