Falkirk Environmental Consultants, Ltd. co-founder Michael McPhie is known for his work in the environmental and mining industries. Michael McPhie’s advocacy also extends to supporting healthy communities. In 2017, he wrote an opinion piece that was published in the Vancouver Sun titled “Leadership on drugs desperately needed-now.” In the article, he urged Vancouver and other provincial and federal elected officials to take action regarding the city’s escalating opioid epidemic.
Today, while the city still has an opioid problem, it has also done several things to reduce the number of overdoses in the past few years. While many might view the measures lenient, many of the strategies seem to focus on curbing the overdose rate due to people purchasing drugs that are laced with dangerous ingredients like fentanyl.
The first measure, referred to as drug checking, allows users to have their drugs checked to make sure there are no harmful substances before they take them. Users can visit supervised consumption sites to have their drugs checked for harmful substances. Drugs that do contain harmful substances will then be reported in Vancouver’s RADAR system, which alerts the community about these strains.
Other measures to curb the incidence of overdose include harm reduction services that allow people to take drugs under supervision. Supervised Consumption Sites provides users with a safe place to take drugs under the supervision of staff who are trained to respond to overdose events.
Overdose Prevention Sites also provide users with several services. In addition to supervising consumption, they distribute harm reduction supplies including naloxone kits (for those who are at risk of overdosing), provide drug checking, and provide referral services.
Finally, the city has installed opioid vending machines as a part of the MySafe project. These machines provide users with a prescribed dose of medical quality hydromorphone, a drug twice as powerful as heroin.
Michael McPhie 