Thirty-six health care workers received compensation through WorkSafeBC in 2023 after being exposed to substances of various kinds, including drugs.
Starting last week with a leaked memo, parts of the political opposition have accused the B.C. NDP of ignoring the safety of health care workers in calling for an end of decriminalization. These calls have cited several anonymous reports of nurses being exposed to illicit substances and open drug dealing in hospitals. According to one such report, a nurse was told not to breastfeed her infant as a precaution after being exposed to smoke following her return from maternity leave.
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad, meanwhile, questioned B.C. decriminalization process, asking why a worker in a government-funded supportive housing project in Victoria had to wear a gas mask “because of the amount of drug fumes.”