Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Northern View, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Northern View
Contact:  http://www.thenorthernview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4366
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

NHA'S CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER SUPPORTS SAFE INJECTION SITES

The Health Officers Council of B.C. is calling on the Ministry of 
Health and regional health authorities to make safe injection sites 
for intravenous drug users available across the province.

Members of the council met in Prince Rupert in October to discuss the 
issue, and passed a resolution supporting safe injection sites as 
part of regular addictions services.

The resolution said Vancouver's Insite supervised injection site has 
been thoroughly studied and found to provide valuable care with, "no 
adverse consequences."

"One of the things we considered is the evidence supporting the safe 
injection site in Vancouver. It definitely shows positive benefits to 
the neighbourhood," Northern Health chief medical health officer Dr. 
David Bowering said.

"It was really to lend our endorsement to harm reduction in the form 
of safe injection sites."

Peer-reviewed studies have appeared in medical journals including The 
Lancet and Journal of the American Medical Association supporting the 
site's benefits to drug users and community members, Bowering said. 
Addicts using Insite are less likely to die of overdoses or be 
infected with blood-borne diseases, like HIV/AIDS, and more likely to 
seek treatment.

Bowering said communities like Prince George should be discussing if 
a safe injection site could benefit the city. Prince George has a 
concentrated area of drug use in the downtown core and rising levels 
of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.

"(But) there would be an awful lot of work to do before we get to 
that point. Northern Health has no appetite for imposing something 
like that until all the discussion has taken place," he said.

"Arguably we don't have the resources, if we did want to go ahead with one."

A number of agencies in the community are already working on the 
issue, he said, and getting neighbourhood stakeholders and the public 
onboard would have to be part of the process. Bowering said he 
supports safe injection sites, because they reduce the harm drug 
addicts cause themselves rather than just treating it after the fact.

"Harm reduction is a reasonable thing to do, given a bad situation," he said.

"In 2005, the council... Advocated taking a public-health approach to 
the regulation of psychoactive drugs. Do we have to stick with a 
model that obviously doesn't work?"

By making psychoactive drugs - narcotics like marijuana, heroin and 
cocaine - illegal, it creates a market for criminals to produce and 
sell them, he said.
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