Users complain of delays at Insite

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Posted January 31, 2013 11:30 am.

This article is more than 5 years old.

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver’s first and only supervised drug injection site is getting plenty of use; in fact, it looks like the facility can barely keep up with the demand.

Last Thursday, a user tweeted: “Currently 24 people waiting 35 plus minutes to shoot up. Open another Insite. Countless leaving to shoot in alleys.”

Mark Townsend with the Portland Hotel Society admits it was a busy day but those delays need to be put into perspective.

“That was on a welfare day, [when] people were saying there was a wait of about 30 minutes, but it may have been more like 15. But it still isn’t safe for them and isn’t good for the public.”

Townsend admits Insite may be a victim of its own success.

“That success means it is very near, in our view, its capacity and on very busy days people do have to wait and, in our view, that’s not a good thing,” he explains.

While he isn’t opposed to another Insite being set up, Townsend says that isn’t a decision a front-line worker like him can make.

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