Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jun 2013
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Georgia Straight
Contact:  http://www.straight.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1084
Author: Stephen Thomson

NEW STUDY SHOWS FEDERAL WAR ON DRUGS FAILING IN VANCOUVER

A NEW REPORT on Vancouver's drug problem highlights the success of
harm-reduction strategies and related approaches while suggesting
tougher policing has not been effective.

The report, released today (June 24) by the Urban Health Initiative at
the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, is based on illicit
drug-use data collected over a 15-year period.

"The objective of this report is to make data accessible to a wide
variety of stakeholders and to directly inform the City of Vancouver's
Four Pillars Drug Strategy, the Province of British Columbia's
response to illicit drug use, and the Canadian federal government's
National Anti-Drug Strategy," the report says.

Among its findings, the study shows that while overall drug use
remained steady from 1996 to 2011, injection drug use decreased over
that period.

The report also shows the percentage of drug users accessing methadone
therapy rose to more than 50 percent over that period; fewer drug
users reported difficulty getting addiction treatment; and reports of
syringe borrowing decreased to 1.7 percent in 2011 from 40 percent in
1996.

Meanwhile, the report shows that while many drug users said they had
been jailed, an emphasis on police enforcement has had little impact
on the price or availability of illicit drugs.

"Between 2000 and 2011, drug prices remained low and stable, with
heroin prices at $20 per 0.1 gram and cocaine, crack cocaine and
crystal methamphetamine at $10 per 0.1 gram. The availability of these
so-called 'hard drugs' is comparable to, and in some cases even
greater than, the reported availability of marijuana," the report says.

In a news release, report co-author Thomas Kerr credits addiction
treatment and harm-reduction services for helping more people to stop
using injection drugs.

"It's important policymakers at all levels of government take note of
this evidence and focus efforts on approaches proven to be more
effective," Kerr says in the release. "Continuing to invest in failed
policies like the war on drugs does little to reduce health and social
harms."
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