Pubdate: Mon, 05 Mar 2001
Source: Peak, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 Peak Publications Society
Contact:  8888 University Dr., Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 Canada
Feedback: http://www.peak.sfu.ca/Feedback.HTML
Website: http://www.peak.sfu.ca/
Author: Alexander Dobuzinskis, Associate Staff Writer

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HEALTH FACILITIES APPROVED, BUT STILL FACE OPPOSITION

The Downtown Eastside may soon be getting expanded health and resource 
centres to deal with the effects of drug addiction. Last Tuesday the 
Vancouver Development Permit Board approved four applications for new 
developments that will be built in the neighbourhood of Main and Hastings.

Over the three days of public hearings the board heard from a wide spectrum 
of people supporting the applications and a small number of local residents 
and business owners who opposed them. Board member Larry Beasley said he 
understood the concerns of those who objected to the developments. "I have 
heard a lot of fear and I'm sympathetic to that fear," said Beasley.

"But there's no indication that these facilities or the people they serve 
will create a problem in the community."

The public hearings revealed that the drug issue has created a significant 
amount of division in the Downtown Eastside.

Many of those who spoke against the developments were Chinese-Canadian 
business owners. They accuse the city of harming the economic viability of 
Chinatown by creating services that encourage drug users to congregate in 
the area.

It is expected that an appeal will be made to the Vancouver Board of 
Variance requesting that the permits be revoked.

In his speech before the permit board Dean Wilson, president of the 
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), said that there would have to 
be some concessions made by both sides in order for the facilities to be 
successful. "I don't think I'm going to get everything I want and I don't 
think the community alliance is going to get everything they want," Wilson 
said.

According to the major players that supported the applications, there are 
still a number of important needs that will not be addressed by the 
facilities approved last Tuesday. One of these is the need for additional 
treatment centres where addicts can receive detox services. Many addicts 
have complained that detox centres have turned them away because of a lack 
of space, or have put them on long waiting lists.

There is also indication that the new facilities will be part of a broader 
initiative to change the way drug addiction is dealt with by government. 
VANDU's Board of Directors has said that they would like to see 
safe-injection sites and heroin maintenance programs introduced in Vancouver.

Jenny Kwan, Minister of Community Development and MLA for Vancouver-Mount 
Pleasant, has also spoken in favor of programs that advocate the use of 
heroin maintenance.

She says she has been impressed by drug treatment programs in Liverpool, 
England, where some addicts are administered periodic doses of heroin by a 
physician.

"These individuals are highly functional within the community," Kwan said 
in a recent speech before VANDU members. "Many of them are employed and 
they have families."

This assertion was questioned by a VANDU member who said that he could not 
imagine a heroin user becoming a completely functional member of the 
community. "I know that when I had just used heroin, I wasn't in a state 
where I could go to work," the man said.

Kwan has also said that a more comprehensive approach to the drug problem 
would have to look at housing issues. Kwan has suggested that providing 
affordable housing to people with substance abuse problems may give them 
the stability they need to deal with their addictions.

Supporters of affordable housing in the Downtown Eastside recently 
celebrated a major victory with the provincial government's announcement 
that they had purchased the Woodward's building and would be devoting 40 
per cent of it to housing units. The site has been vacant since 1993.
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