May 15, 2023
Nearly every participant in a study of a Vancouver safer supply program involving opioid-dispensing machines continued to use illicit drugs but they used less, they experienced fewer overdoses and they reported improvements in health and well-being, including improvements to mental health, health service engagement and withdrawal management. After an initial assessment, mySafe patients scan their palms at an ATM-like biometric machine to obtain a predetermined, prescribed amount of the opioid hydromorphone. The program has about 120 patients across four machines, three in Vancouver and one in Victoria. A fifth machine in Winnipeg is expected to come online this year.