Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 2005
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Sandra Mcculloch
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

ADDICTS HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT

Mayor, Health Honcho Sold On Europe's Mainstreet Drug Injection Centres

It wasn't the usual slide show of European tourist attractions, but a few 
dozen people turned out anyway on Thursday to see images of stark tiled 
rooms used by drug addicts in Bern, Switzerland and Frankfurt, Germany to 
shoot up, inhale and puff their poison.

Giving the commentary were Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe and Dr. Richard 
Stanwick of the Vancouver Island Health Authority, who returned last week 
from a five-day trip checking out supervised injection sites in Europe.

The images of the storefront facilities blended into the cityscape so well 
as to become almost invisible. They were next door to pizzerias, museums 
and banks in thriving commercial districts.

One right around the corner from the financial district "blended in so 
nicely, was so innocuous, that we were able to stand on the street corner 
there, not knowing where that facility was," said Lowe.

The facilities included needle-exchanges, access to medical treatment and 
low-cost meals, laundry facilities, used clothing and footwear.

There's nothing like this in Victoria, but both Lowe and Stanwick think 
there should be. It's just a matter of convincing the business community to 
accept the new neighbour and educating the public that the advantages 
outweigh the disadvantages.

There's also the issue of getting other levels of government interested in 
coughing up money to build and operate the facility.

The European "contact centres" are so named because they provide the 
contacts addicts need to find their way back to healthy lifestyles. The 
facilities are paying off in crime reduction and health-care costs, said Lowe.

A study in 2002 on the Bern facilities concluded that heroin-assisted 
treatment was the single most effective way to prevent crime, the mayor said.

"[There was an] 80-per-cent reduction in self-reported drug-related crimes, 
80-per-cent reduction in convictions, 90-per-cent reduction in prison days."

The key to success is doing more than giving addicts a safe place to use 
their drugs, said Stanwick.

"A supervised consumption site on its own at best would be a Band-Aid . it 
probably could address some of the issues around civic disorder, cleaning 
up the streets, but it would miss the mark in terms of the opportunities 
that would be lost in the contact."

A delicate touch is required for staff to help addicts -- many of whom have 
mental illness -- get integrated back into society, he said.

Half of the heroin addicts who frequented one European facility ended up 
disassociating themselves from the drug community, said Stanwick.

"They talk in terms of a 70-per-cent reduction in petty crime because of 
the availability of a product that is clean and medically prescribed."

The proportion of people who needed to sell sex to fund their addiction 
dropped to six per cent from 50 per cent, Stanwick said.

- - - -

Drug Programs

The City of Victoria is sponsoring a series of free public information 
sessions on the range of programs available to individuals, families and 
communities coping with substance abuse. All sessions run 7-9 p.m.

- - Tuesday, May 24 - Blanshard Community Centre, 910 Kings Rd.

- - Thursday, May 26 - James Bay Community Centre, 140 Oswego St.

- - Tuesday, May 31 - Downtown Activity Centre, 755 Pandora Ave.

- - Wednesday, June 1 - Burnside Community School, 3130 Jutland Rd.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman