Pubdate: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Catherine Porter, City Hall Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) SAFE INJECTION SITE PROPOSED Takes Addicts Off Street: Health Officer Could Be Modelled On Vancouver Idea Toronto should consider opening a centre where drug addicts can openly shoot up heroin and smoke crack, says the city's medical officer of health. "It's a new way to try and reduce the harm associated with injecting drugs . Safer injection sites can reduce the open use of drugs on the street and drug overdose. I think it's something we have to seriously look at here in the city of Toronto," said Dr. David McKeown yesterday. It's one of many strategies the city wants to discuss with citizens while developing its approach to combatting drugs in Toronto. Two years ago, the city formed a team to research best practices around the world in four areas -- prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement. Now, the team wants to present some of the ideas at four open forums, before devising a complete plan and presenting it to council by year's end. One idea is a supervised injection site or smoking room, like the one opened in Vancouver two years ago. Councillor Kyle Rae, who leads the city team, said supervised injection sites improve neighbourhoods battling with drug use, because they take users off the streets and into a safe place where they can access counselling and medical care. Users have the opportunity "to be presented with options about moving to another drug, or moving to methadone, using counselling, getting calmness in their lives -- which is something they don't have as they race around the back laneways, avoiding the police ... finding their dealer and then finding a place to shoot up," said Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale). "We have to break that cycle." But given that the drug of choice on Toronto's streets is crack cocaine, not heroin, and that users are spread across the city and not concentrated in one neighbourhood, Rae was uncertain whether safe injection and smoking sites would work. "I'm not sure if we're ready or we need that solution yet," he said. He is convinced, however, that the solution will require more than extra police officers on the street. "We tend to just throw money to enforcement, and that doesn't solve the problem," he said. "I think we may be more successful in addressing this in a more holistic fashion." Other proposals include: Mandatory drug prevention programs in high school. More workplace-based prevention programs. More affordable and supportive housing for users. A drug treatment court for youth. When asked if she would have used a safe-injection site, former heroin user Cindy Reardon replied: "Absolutely, I would have." It might have saved her from HIV, which she got from a dirty needle while shooting up at a university party 10 years ago, she said. And it would have saved the life of her partner, who died of an overdose while alone in their apartment. "I think that offering somebody a place to go, to make that connection that might not otherwise be there -- it would save them shooting up in a public safe, like an Eaton Centre bathroom," said Reardon, who is now a peer counsellor for drug users. Andrea Stevens Lavigne, the vice-president of education and health promotion at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said more research is needed on the effectiveness of supervised injection sites. "There still isn't definitive evidence in terms of whether it's definitely the right way to go. Certainly, there's anecdotal evidence of where there can be some decrease in harms related to drug use. "But I think it would have to be monitored," she said. She'd rather see a greater emphasis on drug prevention and health promotion in the city's strategy for fighting drug use. "Housing, employment, access to treatment -- these are key pieces of a strategy," she said. The city-sponsored town hall meetings are scheduled for May 2, 3, 5 and 10, at 6:30-9:30 p.m. The locations have not yet been announced. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager