Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jun 2013
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: 
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Dene Moore
Referenced: Drug Situation in Vancouver, Report prepared by the Urban Health
Research Initiative of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in 
HIV/AIDS, Second Edition June 2013: 
http://uhri.cfenet.ubc.ca/images/Documents/dsiv2013.pdf

HARM REDUCTION CUTS DRUG USE, VANCOUVER STUDY FINDS

VANCOUVER - Harm reduction - not a war on drugs - has reduced illicit 
drug use and improved public safety in what was once Ground Zero for 
an HIV and overdose epidemic that cost many lives, says a 15-year 
study of drug use in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside.

The report by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS found that 
from 1996 to 2011, fewer people were using drugs and, of those who 
were, fewer were injecting drugs, said Dr. Thomas Kerr, co-author of 
the report and co-director of the centre's Urban Health Research Initiative.

"A public health emergency was declared here because we saw the 
highest rates of HIV infection ever seen outside of sub-Saharan 
Africa - in this community. At the same time, the community was being 
levelled by an overdose epidemic," Kerr said after presenting his 
findings to members of the group affected at a community centre in 
the heart of the neighbourhood.

Vancouver took a public health approach to the crisis, opening the 
country's first supervised injection site in 2003, and Kerr said the 
statistics show that approach was successful.

Fewer people were sharing needles in 2011, and there were fewer new 
infections of HIV and hepatitis C related to sharing needles, the study found.

In 1996, almost 40 per cent of drug users reported sharing needles, 
but by 2011, that had dropped to 1.7 per cent. About 25 per cent of 
Vancouver's drug users are HIV positive, and about 90 per cent suffer 
from hepatitis C.

The overall health of drug users had improved and more people were 
accessing addiction treatment, jumping from 12 per cent on methadone 
treatment in 1996 to 54.5 per cent since 2008, statistics showed.

"This is probably the city with the most aggressive harm reduction 
approach, yet we're seeing declining rates of drug use within this 
community," Kerr said.

Still, the Conservative government continues to fight programs such 
as supervised injection sites, he said.

Earlier this month, the federal government introduced the Respect for 
Communities Act, which will require applicants of drug injection 
sites to consult with the community, provincial and municipal 
authorities and law enforcement officials, before setting up new facilities.

Several policing associations have sided with the federal government 
on the issue, but in B.C. the provincial government is a supporter of 
Vancouver's InSite.

The Supreme Court of Canada ordered the Conservatives to keep the 
Vancouver clinic open, despite their objections, but proponents of 
the site say the federal legislation would make it almost impossible 
to open another.
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