Nelson Neighbourhood Network Member Addresses Clubhouse, Inhalation Site Concerns

A 150-member strong Nelson Neighbourhood Network continues to advocate for a healthy downtown after forming last year. What began as concerns surrounding Nelson’s Vernon Street Clubhouse has grown to opposition of the safe inhalation site set to open at that same location. Network Member Murray Kimber tells Bounce Radio that regardless of where the safe inhalation site ultimately lands, the clubhouse location still needs to be addressed, as its impacts echo across the downtown: “No one that I’ve talked to is against a supervised drug inhalation site, we’re just against it at the clubhouse and we’re against it until they can demonstrate that they can run that facility properly. Because what’s going on there doesn’t involve wellness, it doesn’t involve supervision, there’s no intervention going on, (and) it’s right next to a transitional housing facility with a zero drug tolerance policy….” IHA has permitted people to seek shelter at the Clubhouse for the past couple of years, but Murray reports community interruptions stemming from emergency calls, a mess of drug paraphernalia and much more. Kimber says when the group first inquired with an Interior Health representative about clubhouse concerns, the Authority instead believed they were asking about the impending safe
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