It has been revealed that Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is handing out free drug paraphernalia via a touch screen vending machine outside the emergency department.The "Care and Connection Kiosk" is stocked with everything from crack pipes to "snorting kits," and anyone can simply walk up and receive what they want, no questions asked..In a video posted to X, Conservative Nanaimo-Lantzville candidate Gwen O'Mahony showed just how easy it was to obtain the gear.Without having to provide any information, she clicked on "supplies" and was offered a variety of products. Among them were various sizes of glass stem pipe, a bubble pipe, an injection kit, a drug checking kit, a naxolone kit, and a snorting kit.O'Mahony selected the latter and a few seconds later, it dropped down into the collection tray wrapped up in a discreet brown envelope.Once the product was received, another screen popped up explaining how to use it. There was even an educational video going through "steps to safer snorting.""I was able to get a crack inhalation kit and a cocaine snorting kit," O'Mahony said as she stood in front of the hospital entrance. "Unfortunately the crack pipes were out, which is no surprise, because crack pipes can be traded for drugs.".Northern Beat founder Fran Yanor noted that, according to an Island Health source, a similar vending machine had been set up at Victoria's Jubilee Hospital, but was removed because people were "continually emptying the machines of crack pipes to sell them," and that, "when machines were empty, hospital workers were getting hassled for more."According to Island Health, the kiosks were installed in October 2023 at hospitals in Nanaimo, Victoria, and Campbell River. "We know that shame and blame can keep people who use drugs from asking for help and not accessing the means they need to stay safer – which can often be fatal," Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside said at the time. "These new Care and Connection Kiosks are discreet and always open, making it easier for more people to get the life-saving supplies and treatment information they need where and when they need it."Not everyone has been convinced the machines have made doing drugs any safer.."There is no "safe" way to snort meth or heroin," Conservative leader John Rustad wrote in response to O'Mahony's video, echoing the sentiments of countless others across the province.."I really cannot reconcile a lot of this," another user wrote. "It is just so incredibly absurd and not many in positions of power are calling it out for what it is-another government program gone wrong. People are suffering. People are dying. It's not time to look at what the polls are saying. Or whether you are going to get cancelled. We need leaders to lead. To call out the lies and the captured government agencies."
It has been revealed that Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is handing out free drug paraphernalia via a touch screen vending machine outside the emergency department.The "Care and Connection Kiosk" is stocked with everything from crack pipes to "snorting kits," and anyone can simply walk up and receive what they want, no questions asked..In a video posted to X, Conservative Nanaimo-Lantzville candidate Gwen O'Mahony showed just how easy it was to obtain the gear.Without having to provide any information, she clicked on "supplies" and was offered a variety of products. Among them were various sizes of glass stem pipe, a bubble pipe, an injection kit, a drug checking kit, a naxolone kit, and a snorting kit.O'Mahony selected the latter and a few seconds later, it dropped down into the collection tray wrapped up in a discreet brown envelope.Once the product was received, another screen popped up explaining how to use it. There was even an educational video going through "steps to safer snorting.""I was able to get a crack inhalation kit and a cocaine snorting kit," O'Mahony said as she stood in front of the hospital entrance. "Unfortunately the crack pipes were out, which is no surprise, because crack pipes can be traded for drugs.".Northern Beat founder Fran Yanor noted that, according to an Island Health source, a similar vending machine had been set up at Victoria's Jubilee Hospital, but was removed because people were "continually emptying the machines of crack pipes to sell them," and that, "when machines were empty, hospital workers were getting hassled for more."According to Island Health, the kiosks were installed in October 2023 at hospitals in Nanaimo, Victoria, and Campbell River. "We know that shame and blame can keep people who use drugs from asking for help and not accessing the means they need to stay safer – which can often be fatal," Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside said at the time. "These new Care and Connection Kiosks are discreet and always open, making it easier for more people to get the life-saving supplies and treatment information they need where and when they need it."Not everyone has been convinced the machines have made doing drugs any safer.."There is no "safe" way to snort meth or heroin," Conservative leader John Rustad wrote in response to O'Mahony's video, echoing the sentiments of countless others across the province.."I really cannot reconcile a lot of this," another user wrote. "It is just so incredibly absurd and not many in positions of power are calling it out for what it is-another government program gone wrong. People are suffering. People are dying. It's not time to look at what the polls are saying. Or whether you are going to get cancelled. We need leaders to lead. To call out the lies and the captured government agencies."
