Pubdate: Wed, 06 Apr 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Duffy
Page: A1

WATSON, CHIEF FIRM ON DRUG SITE

Mayor Jim Watson renewed his long-standing opposition to a safe 
injection site Tuesday, setting the stage for a protracted political 
battle over the question of how best to help local drug addicts.

The mayor made it clear to reporters that his views on the 
controversial harm-reduction practice have not evolved in the six 
years since he first outlined them.

"In the last election campaign and the one before that, I was very 
consistent: I believe the scarce dollars we do have should be going 
to treatment of people who have addictions, whether they're alcohol 
or drug addictions," Watson said.

Expanding oversubscribed treatment programs is a much smarter use of 
tax dollars, he said, than giving addicts a place to inject their 
drugs under a nurse's care. Watson's comments came as police Chief 
Charles Bordeleau reiterated his belief that a safe injection site 
would compromise public safety. Bordeleau has said such facilities 
can lead to increased drug trafficking and more crime as addicts 
pursue cash to finance their habits.

Bordeleau said Tuesday that although a safe injection site is 
primarily a health care issue, police want the opportunity "to 
identify any potential crime and disorder issues related to its operation."

Their statements put Watson and Bordeleau on a collision course with 
the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, which launched public 
consultations this week on its plan to develop a supervised injection 
service. The centre already offers detox, medical and social services 
to about 700 injection drug users in downtown Ottawa.

To operate a safe injection site, the centre would have to apply to 
the federal government for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and 
Substances Act. That application would require a letter from the city 
and from the police chief.

Rob Boyd, director of the health centre's Oasis harm reduction 
program, has vowed to forge ahead with the safe injection plan in the 
face of opposition from civic leaders.

While he appreciates the mayor's call to expand addiction treatment, 
Boyd said to focus narrowly on that approach ignores the nature of 
injection drug use and its dire consequences.

"We really need a front end to the addictions treatment system for 
people who inject drugs in order to stabilize them and hopefully 
prepare them for a future that includes addiction treatment," he 
said. "We want them, when they get there, first of all, to be alive 
and also to be disease-free."

Sean LeBlanc, chair of the Drug Users Advocacy League (DUAL), a 
harm-reduction lobby group, said leaders who oppose a safe injection 
site ignore evidence that the facilities save lives and reduce 
disease. "Watson and Bordeleau are not health-care experts," said 
LeBlanc, whose organization represents about 300 current and former 
drug users in Ottawa.

LeBlanc, 43, a former injection drug user who now works for Inner 
City Health, said the current drug treatment regime is not working to 
reduce overdose deaths in Ottawa. "Nothing has changed, so we need to 
try something new," he said.

According to Ottawa Public Health, overdose deaths in Ottawa have 
remained relatively stable at about 40 each year since 2000.

The city's medical officer of health, Dr. Isra Levy, has yet to take 
a clear stand on the safe injection site proposed by the Sandy Hill 
Community Health Centre. Ottawa Public Health has said it will review 
the centre's proposal "from a health perspective."

The estimated operating cost of the safe injection site is $250,000 
to $300,000 a year - money that would have to come from the province.

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins recently vowed to consider all 
new safe injection site proposals, but the government may be 
reluctant to fund a project opposed by civic leaders.

Watson said provincial healthcare dollars should go toward the 
expansion of the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, and to address 
long wait lists for other detox programs.

"My view is that when we have limited resources in the health 
portfolio, that those dollars should go into treating those people 
who desperately want to get off that addiction of drugs or alcohol," he said.

Watson's stand puts him at odds with the federal government of Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau, which has embraced the concept of harm 
reduction and invited applications for new safe injections sites in Canada.

In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada also endorsed the merits of harm 
reduction when it considered a case involving Canada's first 
government-sanctioned safe injection site, the Insite facility in Vancouver.

"The experiment has proven successful," the high court concluded in 
its 2011 decision. "Insite has saved lives and improved health 
without increasing the incidence of drug use and crime in the 
surrounding area."

The court accepted research evidence that showed the facility had 
reduced local overdose deaths by more than a third, while increasing 
the number of users going to addiction treatment.

Watson said he once visited Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and found 
it a "very depressing, sad neighbourhood," with visible drug 
activity. "It's a neighbourhood that I feel very, very sorry for 
because it's a quite a sad state of affairs."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom