Well, I can give you a very concrete example from Projet Caméléon, a non-profit I started in 2017 at the beginning of the opioid crisis.
Projet Caméléon sends a team of doctors, pharmacists, nurses, medical students, volunteers and outreach workers to electronic music festivals, where almost 95% of people are under the influence of drugs.
We respond to GHB and ketamine overdoses on site. You don't see a lot of opioids or alcohol at these kinds of festivals, but you do see a lot of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms.
The year before, we went to the Eclipse festival, which took place in Sainte-Thérèse-de-la-Gatineau near Gatineau. Twenty-seven ambulances were called to the site. There were paramedics on site, but no doctors.
The first year that Projet Caméléon provided on-site response, only four ambulances were called. Last year, we set a record: no ambulances were called.
We provide on-site treatment. We administer injectable antipsychotics, naloxone and benzodiazepines to treat panic attacks, among other things.
There's clear evidence that treating people on site prevents deaths and a large number of hospitalizations, hospitalizations that may not always be necessary.
A number of organizations, such as CACTUS Montréal and Spectre de rue, have street workers serving downtown Montreal.
We haven't covered everything today, but Projet Caméléon workers also do drug testing so people can have drugs tested before they use them. When we think we've found traces of fentanyl in a substance, we let people know, and they just don't consume it.
Someone said earlier that people are using street fentanyl. That's true. I think there is now a fentanyl addiction epidemic. Some people are now addicted to fentanyl.
I also want to point out that there are products on the street now that are much worse than fentanyl, such as carfentanil and isotonitazene. People can get all kinds of other opioids that are even more potent than fentanyl.
Drug testing is a service that can be provided on the street, and it can save lives. I hope it's available in Vancouver.
Contrary to what some people think, this service does not increase substance use. It actually tends to reduce it.
Thank you.