Pubdate: Mon, 05 May 2003 Source: Penticton Western (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Penticton Western Contact: http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310 Author: Wolf Depner Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) GETTING A FIX ON THE LOCAL DRUG PROBLEM A community forum held between two packed screenings of the movie Fix: The Story of an Addicted City highlighted the need for more drug addiction resources. "We're probably the only community of this size in the Interior that does not have a street nursing program," Colleen Maloney, a public health nurse with the Penticton Health Centre, said during Thursday's forum held at Pen-Mar Cinema Theatre. Fix - currently touring cities across B.C.'s Interior and Vancouver Island - - is an award-winning documentary that tells in graphic details the story of recent efforts to combat the drug problems that haunt Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. "These problems do exist in Penticton and we're doing our best...to deal with them," said Maloney. "One of the things we're fortunate in having is a methadone program." The local heroin-replacement program has handled over 130 cases since it opened in 1996, she said. And it led to a needle exchange program which last year exchanged over 40,000 needles, said Maloney. Over 90 per cent of the 80 program participants returned their used needles for clean ones, she said. "That's fantastic," she said. But the program lacks funding and too few people - including health care professionals - know about it, said Maloney. It is basically run out of a "closet" in the Penticton Health Unit at 740 Carmi Ave, she said - a location makes outreach difficult, said Maloney. "It's nowhere near downtown where a lot of our users would find it much more convenient," she said. "We're still working on that (and) we have some potential prospects for the fall." Volunteers may be needed in the fall, said Maloney. The public in the meantime can play a role by learning more about the issues surrounding drugs, she said. Those issues exist in every community, said former Vancouver mayor Phil Owen who was among the forum participants. The three-term mayor chose not to run in the last election after his own party told him he would have to compete for its candidacy. This internal fight followed after Owen's introduction of the so-called "four-pillars" approach - prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm-reduction - to deal with Vancouver's drug problem, despite loud objections from parts of the Vancouver business community. The approach calls for a coordinated effort among all levels of government to achieve a balance of public health solutions and public order. The outright liberalization of drug use is not the answer to the drug problem, he said, nor alone is enhanced enforcement. "It's not a sustainable approach," he said. "It is good for the next election. It is good for media. But it really does nothing to get to the core of the problem." Sixteen year olds addicted to heroin are not criminals, said Owen. If they are not sick, what are they? he asked. "Are you going to throw them into jail for five years?" At the same time, it is time to get tough on non-using drug dealers whom Owen calls "murderers." While Owen admits his message draws skepticism in many conservative parts of the Interior, it is resonates among groups such as youth and First Nations. And politicians who oppose progressive drug policies do so at their own political peril because the last municipal election in Vancouver was won and lost over the issue of drugs, he said. Candidates who favoured reform won while those who did not, or waffled, lost, he said. "We have to get real," said Owen. "We have to face the world as it is, not as we remember it or the way we would like it to be." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager