Pubdate: Mon, 17 Aug 2015
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Alexander J Audette
Page: A8

DEMONIZING DRUG ADDICTION MUST STOP

Talking "tough" on drugs is something many politicians seem to love
doing as it is the one thing they tend to get away with, especially
during an election campaign.

 From a societal perspective, there is very little sympathy for those
who are addicted to substances. Too often, addiction is still seen as
a sign of weak morals or poor life choices. But this is an overly
simplistic perspective.

There are many roads to addiction. Some are the result of recreation
gone wrong, while others are caused by the medical profession or
happen as a result of post-traumatic stress. A case in point would be
the patient in chronic pain who receives a prescription for opiate
painkillers, who then becomes addicted to them. When the prescription
runs out, the addiction remains, and then gets driven underground
(i.e. the street).

Unsupervised use of intravenous drugs not only paves the way to
overdoses that can lead to death, or costly emergency interventions,
but also to infections transmitted due to unsanitary needle techniques
which are both viral (hepatitis/HIV) and bacterial (staph infections).
An emergency room visit due to a drug overdose in Ontario costs
taxpayers $150 for the hospital visit, and $195 for the ambulance
fees. If there is followup care due to the above-mentioned infections,
it is potentially even more.

The InSite/OnSite program in Vancouver is an example of a program that
uses "harm reduction" as an effective tool to help people recover from
addiction after they have fallen through the cracks of society's
social/medical safety nets. It is the only one in Canada.
InSite/OnSite helps to prevent the ER visits and infections that
result from poor needle usage, and connects drug users to the
resources and help they need when they are ready for it.

In 2002, the societal per capita costs (what all taxpayers pay) of
illegal drug abuse (not including tobacco and alcohol) were $262. The
national health care costs this represented were $1.13 billion, the
law enforcement costs were $2.33 billion and research/prevention (of
which InSite is a small part) was $16.5 million.

As we are in the midst of a federal election, and everyone's eyes are
on the economy, perhaps now is the time for politicians to stop
demonizing addiction and spend our tax dollars effectively, as
prohibition hasn't worked thus far.

Alexander J Audette

Cambridge
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MAP posted-by: Matt