Supervised Consumption Sites

Supervised consumption facilities such as Insite and the Powell Street Getaway operate under a Health Canada exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws. Consumption services use a harm-reduction model, which means they strive to decrease the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use.

Supervised consumption sites are beneficial for the community and for residents:

They help prevent people from transmitting infectious diseases.
They encourage marginalized people to access health care services, including primary care and addiction treatment.
They bring stability to the community by improving public order and reducing the number of injections taking place on the street.

Insite

Insite is North America’s first legal supervised consumption site. It opened in 2003 and is located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where there is a high number of long-term injection drug users. The facility operates under a Health Canada exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws. Insite operates on a harm-reduction model, which means it strives to decrease the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use.

Visit Insite's services & locations directory page for more detailed information.

Powell Street Getaway

Opened in July 2017, the facility operates under a Health Canada exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws. Staff supervise and monitor clients for signs and symptoms of an overdose at five booths, teaching clients safer injection practices, and referring clients to other health care services such as substance use treatment and counselling.

Visit PSG's services & locations directory page for more detailed information.

Images of Insite & Powell Street Getaway

The exterior of Insite Entryway to facility with sign-in desk where clients give staff a name to be put on a waiting list The injection room with harm reduction supplies and 12 injection booths in the back Harm reduction supplies in the foreground and injection booths in the background Injection booths on the left and the nursing station on the right, where staff monitor clients Injection booths. The yellow boxes are used to dispose of used needles. Clean injection equipment given to clients, which includes syringes, sterile cookers, filters, water and tourniquets A person holding a sterile cooker (left hand) and a syringe (right hand). The chill-out room is a safe environment clients can visit after injecting. They can have juice or coffee, and talk to staff The exterior of Onsite, detox facility Powell Street Getaway exterior There are five client booths inside the supervised consumption service room at Powell Street Getaway.

Learn more about supervised consuption

Visit our Insite User Statistics page to find out how many clients we serve, how often they are referred to addiction treatment and social services, and see our operating budget.
Read about the peer reviewed medical research studies confirming the benefits of Insite by downloadingFindings from the evaluation of Vancouver’s Pilot Medically Supervised Safer Consuption Facility – Insite.
Read the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision confirming that Insite saves lives with no negative impact on public safety in the neighbourhood.

Contact us

For clinical and non-media inquiries about supervised consumption sites, contact Vancouver Mental Health and Addiction Services at vancouver.mhsu@vch.ca (Use subject line: Insite)
For media inquiries, contact our media team