Pubdate: Wed, 17 Sep 2003
Source: Surrey Now (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Carolyn Cooke

DRUG FILM INVITES SURREY RESIDENTS TO SPEAK OUT

Drug addiction and what to do about the huge number of problems associated 
with it are hot topics, not just in Vancouver this week but also in Surrey 
as the Hollywood 3 cinema shows the documentary Fix: The Story of an 
Addicted City this weekend.

Filmmaker Nettie Wild was on hand Monday for the launch of Vancouver's 
supervised safe injection site, the original focus of her movie.

"I thought we were making a film about opening a safe injection site and in 
the end it ended up to be a portrait of the beginnings of a social 
movement," she said.

The film follows the two-year struggle of activists to open the safe 
injection site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

What Wild is finding in showing this film in cities and towns across Canada 
is that communities - everyday people - are way ahead of politicians in 
terms of dealing with the issue "because it's in their face already. 
They're much less frightened to talk about it than the politicians are." 
She said many people are struggling with the effects of addiction on 
children or adults who are drug dependent. Talking about the problem is one 
of the first steps to creating social change, she said.

To that end, Fix: The Story of an Addicted City has sold out in every place 
it's shown, often being held over and beating out Hollywood blockbusters 
for attendance. Wild also makes sure a discussion forum follows each 
screening for anyone who is interested in debating the topic.

For the Surrey screenings, the forums will be moderated by James 
Tigchelaar, outreach team leader for B.C. Centre for Disease Control's 
street nurse program. Everyone, no matter what their background, level of 
knowledge or opinion is welcome to ask questions and talk about the film 
and the issue of addiction.

Health-care professionals and social service professionals will be present 
to field questions. On opening night, Friday, Sept. 19, Dr. David Henderson 
from South Fraser Community Resources will also attend.

"The reason we've chosen Surrey is because the whole drug scene and issue 
has really been debated a lot (and) that there would be an interested 
audience and also interesting people involved in the discussion. And that's 
proven to be true," Wild said.

No matter whether people are in favour of a safe injection site or not, the 
issue of drugs and addiction is one that Surrey and the Lower Mainland must 
come to terms with.

"I think what happens with social change is that for 10 years or more the 
happening people - whether they are health care professionals or activists 
or whoever - put the kindling in place for the fire through good research 
and then a spark hits. In this particular case it was (former Vancouver 
mayor) Philip Owen being thrown out of his party on this and the guy 
basically not taking a dive for what was politically convenient, but 
holding his ground and the city kind of went 'whoa, this is hardball.' And 
it took off from there.

"Let's face it, 27 cities in the world have already opened safe injection 
sites so we're not exactly reinventing the wheel here."

Fix: The Story of an Addicted City shows at 7 p.m. nightly Sept. 19 to 21 
at Hollywood 3 cinema, located at 7125-138th St., Surrey. The film contains 
coarse language and graphic scenes of needle injection some viewers may 
find objectionable.
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MAP posted-by: Beth