A3
Rock The Lake will go rain or shine
CAPITAL news KELOWNA
Proudly serving the communities of the Central Okanagan for over 85 years Wednesday, August 10, 2016 • kelownacapnews.com
Seeking a second bridge option
GRM 2016
Trade Show Event
50+ exhibitors, dynamic displays, demonstrations, equipment simulators, fundraising activities for the United Way, food trucks & August 12 • 9am-3pm great prizes. 1979 Old Okanagan Hwy, Westbank OPEN TO THE PUBLIC & FREE TO ATTEND!
inside today
OLYMPICS IN RIO KELOWNA CONNECTION FOR RELAY SWIMMING BRONZE MEDALLIST TAYLOR RUCK....A21
FOCAL POINT OF LOCAL CRIME Kelowna city council updated on the progress towards creating a plan for a second bridge crossing on Okanagan Lake between the city and West Kelowna. See story A7.
Rash of drug overdoses speeding up need for local safe injection site Kathy Michaels kmichaels@kelownacapnews.com
Kelowna could soon have a safe injection site, as Interior Health is moving forward with a multi-tiered plan to combat the mounting number of drug related overdoses. “We are as we speak conducting a survey with people who use drugs so they can provide input on the idea of a safe injection service,” said Dr. Silvina Mema, Medical Health Officer with IHA, noting that the survey will identify the appetite for such a facility and best locations. The health authority also had a cursory meeting with Kelowna
city council on Monday to inform them of where they’re at in the process. Although the plan is still in the consultation phase, there’s an impetus to get something up-andrunning sooner than later, said Mema, noting that Kelowna could see 40 drug related deaths by the end of 2016, doubling the amount of drug-fatalities from the previous year. “These are preventable deaths,” she said, adding that a safe injection site, if implemented with other measures, could go a long way in lowering that number. Making it easier to move into action is that the site, once built, will be on a much smaller scale
than InSite—the Vancouver safe injection facility. “It would basically be a stainless steel counter with three or four chairs and one or two nurses there to supervise in case a user needs health care,” said Mema. “It would probably be in a facility where clean needles and things of that kind are already provided. “This is new. It’s an innovation for Kelowna if we go ahead and do it here. “What is holding us back is planning and also the community… we need to engage with the community to move this forward.” In order to open a facility of this
kind, the health authority needs to ask for permission from Health Canada to be exempted from Section 56 under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act. Their application has to include the community perspective, which includes a summary of what neighbours think about the idea. “We are currently looking for viable sites and then when we know that then we can ask the neighbours,” she said. Although the facility will likely be placed in a commercial neighbourhood, the health authority is prepared for community opposition.
SEE SITE A4
RECENT PLAGUE OF CRIME IN RUTLAND INTENSIFED IN RECENT DAYS WITH MACHETE ATTACK AND DISCOVERY OF A DEAD BODY IN HEIN ROAD HOUSE......A3, A5
MAXINE DEHART ON BUSINESS NEW RESTAURANT SPECIALIZING IN EAST INDIAN CUISINE MAKES ITS DEBUT ..................... A29,30
ARTS NEW ART EXHIBIT FOCUS ON MEXICAN WORKERS.............A15
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