Here we are with a crisis on our hands. The continuation of needle support services at AIDS Vancouver Island is in jeopardy because of the lack of consultation with the public by the key authorities, city hall and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong is that we are compounding the pain of the people who are already suffering. It is a guarantee that people are going to get sick as a result of the closure of the needle exchange and the resulting lack of availability of harm reduction and support services. Lives will be ruined because people will be deprived of access to an essential health care service. [continues 73 words]
Re: Look closely at effectiveness of safe injection site (Opinion, June 4) Coun. Geoff Young makes a good point when he suggests that further study into Victoria's safe consumption site is necessary before we move ahead. I agree that we need more discussion regarding this issue. One idea suggested by Keith Martin was for the site to provide prescription meds. The City of Victoria's 'Feasibility Study on Supervised Drug Consumption' was completed in April 2007 and it identifies one idea that is worth considering. [continues 195 words]
Time and again we have been told that the "experts" support a safe drug consumption site for Victoria, and a majority of our city council agrees. But by my reading of the evidence from Vancouver's supervised injection site (Insite) and elsewhere, the case for a safe injection site in Victoria is not so clear. The federal government-struck Expert Advisory Committee on Supervised Injection Site Research tells us that Vancouver's Insite may prevent about one overdose fatality per year, but the committee does not know whether the same $3 million per year spent on outreach or drug treatment courts would be more effective still. Surprisingly, it says there is no direct evidence that Insite reduces rates of HIV infection, and proving effectiveness one way or the other would require more information about drug users' practices away from Insite. [continues 344 words]
As a compelling attention-getter, there's nothing quite like a nose in the crotch. An uninvited nose, I hasten to add. This one was large, wet and attached to the snout of a German shepherd - - which was in turn leashed to the brawny right arm of a brush-cut, flint-eyed, humourless-looking chap with a badge on his chest and a Glock-nine on his hip. Where was this happening - a DMZ border crossing between the Koreas? A lockdown weapons inspection site outside Baghdad's Green Zone? Nope. [continues 636 words]
Two weeks ago police raided a suspected meth lab in Saanich, although as everyone knows by now, they barged into a quiet family residence housing no drug operation whatsoever. Police were working on a tip from a previously reliable informant that the Regina Avenue home was a drug house. The Cushing family probably has a very different view of cops now, as the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team forcefully entered their home with weapons drawn and dragged them in for further questioning. [continues 625 words]
With nowhere to go, operators of Victoria's needle exchange are hurrying to come up with options to keep the service running after May 31, when its troubled tenancy on Cormorant Street comes to an end. AIDS Vancouver Island learned Friday that the Vancouver Island Health Authority board of directors has frozen plans to move the service into a new home, the St. John Ambulance building at 941 Pandora Avenue, until more community consultation takes place. "At this point we're coming up with (both) a short-term and a long-term contingency plan," said Katrina Jensen, AIDS Vancouver Island executive director. [continues 399 words]
Victoria Dubbed 'Cracktown' By Drug Users While media reports and images thrust crystal meth into the spotlight in recent years, the drug of choice in Victoria remains crack-cocaine. So much so that Victoria has been nicknamed Cracktown by drug users and people connected with the local drug scene. "There's a lot of crack use in this city," said Sandra Brown, a drug and alcohol counsellor with the Cool-Aid Society. "From what I hear from people, it's more popular in the Victoria street community than in Vancouver." [continues 211 words]
Drug Users Take Responsibility For Discarded Needles The street outside is dark as lights come on inside the little office across the street from the police station on Caledonia Avenue. It's 7 a.m. Five stick-on letters clinging to the front window spell out a single word, SOLID. Inside, two men are getting ready for a few hours' work. Both are drug addicts - one is recovering from an addiction to crack cocaine, the other still shoots himself with heroin every morning. [continues 667 words]
But Conservative MP says mandatory minimum sentences will reduce drug use The smell of burning marijuana wafted briefly through a small crowd gathered in the public library courtyard in downtown Victoria. A dapper Ted Smith, decked out in a suit for the occasion, was largely preaching to the converted when he spoke about the dangers of the Conservative government's plan to impose mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of trafficking even small amounts of illicit drugs, including marijuana. "It'll scare a lot of them out of doing it and the people who will end up doing it will be organized criminals," Smith said. [continues 504 words]
Drug addicts will get safer crack kits courtesy of the provincial government come next spring. The kits will contain a mouthpiece - a piece of plastic tubing that fits over the end of a crack pipe and a push stick to force a screen into the pipe. The kits are to slow the spread of communicable diseases, said Dr. Murray Fyfe, a medical health officer with the Vancouver Island Health Authority. "Mouthpieces and push sticks are what we're talking about, and these are meant to prevent harm with the practice of smoking crack," Fyfe said. [continues 210 words]
Police say drug crime has links to Lower Mainland gangs, but there is no formal network in the Capital The drugs that plague Greater Victoria's streets come in a steady flow from the mainland, but even with recent cases of gun violence and seizures linked to the drug trade, police say there are still no signs the Capital has imported the kind of gang scene that riddles Vancouver. "There are definitely organized groups of individuals who are engaged in drug trafficking in Victoria," said Const. Connor King, a Victoria police department drug investigator. [continues 794 words]
Officials Hope Transition to New Home Will Be Smooth Writing from the William Head Institution, Terry Doucette explains how Victoria's only fixed site needle exchange saved his life. "Just before cleaning up I had caught Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of blood poisoning, and didn't even realize it. I was literally days away from death," Doucette said. Needle exchange staff drove him to hospital and made sure he received treatment. Three years later, the 32 year old is pleading with the community to coexist with the needle exchange and help it find a new location. [continues 680 words]
The smoke has cleared and it was alcohol that killed the marijuana bash. After 12 years, the world's largest weekly pot rally has been stubbed out because of drinking. Victoria's International Hempology 101 Society meetings drew up to 100 cannabis supporters, but society president Ted Smith said they will have to light up on their own. Smith said the meetings became too dangerous when unruly beer swiggers crashed the rallies. The gatherings moved to outside the Ministry of Health building because security guards patrol the grounds, which Smith hoped would deter drinkers from attending. [continues 234 words]
The AIDS Vancouver Island needle exchange has been told by its landlords to fix the street problems in front of its Cormorant Street location or find a new home. It could face eviction at the end of May if the problems aren't dealt with by the end of February, but AVI, for its part, agrees it's time for the exchange to move. The non-profit has already been talking to the city and the Vancouver Island Health Authority about alternatives, and hopes the way forward will start to become apparent with today's release of the Mayor's Task Force report on homelessness and addiction. [continues 406 words]
Re: War on drugs doomed (News, Oct. 12). If so-called tough-on-drugs policies worked the idealistic goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago. And if tolerant drug policies created more drug use, the Netherlands would have much higher drug usage rates than the U.S. They do not. In fact, the Dutch use marijuana and other recreational drugs at much lower rates than Americans do. And if tolerant drug policies caused more overall crime, especially violent crime, the Dutch would have much higher crime rates than the U. S. [continues 90 words]
The conservative minority government in Ottawa is trotting out another old policy warhorse that will surely please the party's base voter constituency - yet another war on drugs. Health Minister Tony Clement's latest offensive will entail stiffer penalties for drug offenders and more money to stop drugs from getting across the border. There will also be a massive campaign to warn young people not to use drugs. What is missing is more funding to provide detox services to help those hooked on drugs to get straightened out. [continues 83 words]
VICTORIA - The Interior town of Williams Lake has done a good job of highlighting the problem of "prolific offenders" in recent weeks. Instead of playing down its distinction as B.C.'s crime capital as previous honourees Surrey, New Westminster and North Vancouver have done before, Williams Lake Mayor Scott Nelson has used police statistics to tackle the problem head-on. He's put the message out forcefully that the numbers are driven by a handful of hardcore repeat offenders who, especially in a small town, can generate a crime wave all by themselves. But the same story could be told in communities around the province and it's usually a story about what people will do to get drugs. [continues 827 words]
Re: Independent study needed on injection sites (Letters, Sept. 12). Letter writer Kjell Nilsen opined "What is lacking is an independent evaluation of the Vancouver site and injection sites in general." The external evaluators of the Vancouver site recently explained in Open Medicine, a peer-reviewed, independent, open access journal, "the Vancouver SIF evaluation was designed to stand up to the highest level of scientific scrutiny. Specifically, the following safeguards were put in place. First, a regional SIF oversight committee was developed which included senior members of all stakeholders groups, including the chief of the Vancouver police department and the provincial medical health officer. Second, in accordance with the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) criteria for observational research, it was required that the methodology for the evaluation be subject to external peer review to ensure scientific rigour, and publication to ensure scientific openness. Finally, it was required that all findings of the evaluation be subject to external peer review and publication prior to dissemination, and many of these studies were published in top journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine." [continues 66 words]
Re: Closing Vancouver's Insite tantamont to murder, (Letters, Sept. 7). The opinions expressed by Dr. Keith Martin are not facts but a political ploy. Having been involved in such a medical problem for many years I believe that a cure is sought but prevention is the priority, and this is seldom mentioned by the media. Compromise is not the answer and may remove the search for the cause, in this case, being the drug dealers and money, which causes the problems of crime, health and other social disorders. Goverments may support financially the community organizations with beneficial plans but cannot replace them. Victoria [end]
Re: Closing Vancouver's Insite tantamount to murder (Letters, Sept. 7). Dr. Keith Martin cites the success of the injection site in the increased use of methadone and other forms of treatment and a lesser use of the injection site itself. What is lacking is an independent evaluation of the Vancouver site and injection sites in general. In other words, what is the number of people quitting drugs and not merely signing up for free methadone or other programs? Until Martin provides some evidence in that direction and not just vague reference to "the experts," I would venture to guess that the good doctor is himself ideologically driven. Of course, the easiest thing in the world is to convince yourself that your own motives are pure. Kjell Nilsen Victoria [end]
Let's face facts. The impending closure of Vancouver's Insite supervised injection site by the federal Conservative government will be the first casualty in their "New National Drug Strategy". In killing this program, they will be committing thousands of people in the coming years to deaths that were entirely preventable, from overdoses, HIV/AIDS, sepsis, hepatitis C, etc. Tragically, this decision will be driven by ideology and not facts as some of the most reputable medical journals in the world, including the Lancet and the British Medical Journal have published scientific, peer reviewed articles illustrating the enormous benefits of this program. [continues 179 words]
Two Victoria Police Department officers were part of an airborne pot-busting operation last month. They were the VPD's contribution to a marijuana eradication effort that saw officers from the RCMP, Saanich Police and the VPD cut down 19,000 marijuana plants growing on Crown land around Vancouver Island. Transportation was provided by Canadian Forces Sea King helicopters. "They were dismantling those crops and taking them down, doing all the things that are involved," said Sgt. Grant Hamilton, spokesman for the VPD. [continues 161 words]
The Crystal Meth Society of B.C. is $10,000 richer thanks to a large corporate donation from Telus.Telus handed over the cash at a cheque presentation Wednesday. The funds will be used to educate more youthabout the dangers of Crystal Meth and to support the society's youth leadership program at the University of Victoria. [end]
Serious debate about negative behaviours of a few Victoria needle exchange clients has cast AIDS Vancouver Island in a less-than-favourable light of late. While the majority of registered clients come and go with little impact on the neighbourhood, a small percentage, as discussed in police media releases, "inhabits between the Cormorant area and StreetLink area."? While these issues are ongoing with the community and AVI working to resolve them with good neightour agreement, I stand back, a client of AVI, not the needle exchange, and a volunteer for 12 years and look at the immense work AVI has done on Vancouver Island since 1986. Prevention, education, harm-reduction, advocacy, men's wellness, women's wellness and, yes, the needle exchange, are but a few of the departments within AVI that run the programs you see in the community. [continues 315 words]
AIDS Vancouver Island's desire to use ever more public money to pursue the dubious practice of giving injection needles and distilled water to sick street addicts is a deadly, counter-productive policy based on questionable scientific data ("AIDS group pushes addict safe haven," July 25). It is quite telling that your headline writer uses the verb "pushes" to describe this foolish idea, as it is clear that AVI's intention is to expand its little empire, effectively at the expense of the health of these same addicts. [continues 378 words]
I have a bone to pick with the mayor of Victoria. Last Friday (July 27) I was walking up Douglas Street with a friend, when we crossed a few beggars who just asked but were ignored, when one of them overstepped their boundaries. A man came up to me and said while patting down my pockets, "Hey man, hey, got any change?" He then proceeded to reach into my pocket! I smacked his hand away and kept walking. I have watched this town go from a beautiful small city to a mini-Toronto without guns and I am sick of it. The police are not the problem, as I am certain many of them would enjoy giving them more than a talking to and a walk into the paddy wagon, if you catch my drift. [continues 137 words]
Lawyers and diplomats may not be able to help a Canadian man jailed in Dubai on drug charges, but maybe one little girl with a lemonade stand can make a difference. Carmen Portillo has only met Bert Tatham once, but the 10-year-old girl believes whole-heartedly in his innocence -- based on the word of Tatham's fiancee, Sarah Gilmour. "I really like Sarah. She was my mentor and one of my favourite friends at school," said Carmen about the former George Jay elementary school mentor. Students heard her tell the story of Tatham's efforts in Afghanistan to eradicate poppies and about his legal predicament overseas, and were touched by his story. [continues 165 words]
Liberal politicians were quick to pat themselves on the back last week when B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor revealed the province has a $4.1 billion surplus. But you don't have to look far for evidence that the Campbell government's penny-pinching ways have come with a hefty social cost. True the B.C. Liberals can't take all the blame for the increase in addiction, poverty, homelessness, theft, property crime and street-level drug dealing that has occurred in communities across B.C. since they took office. [continues 422 words]
The Victoria Chamber of Commerce has thrown its opinion into the safe-injection site debate. The Chamber supports a harm-reduction strategy empathizing prevention, housing, enforcement and treatment. "Essentially we think there are other ways to break the cycle of addiction," said Bruce Carter, spokesperson and CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce. "In running a safe consumption site there is still the illegal activity associated with the buying and selling of drugs." Carter added that 90 per cent of property crime in Victoria is drug related. [continues 115 words]
Attendees at AIDS Vancouver Island's annual general meeting arrived expecting the head of the Vancouver Island Health Authority to deliver some good news about funding for the society's troubled needle exchange operation. Instead, they learned it is about to undergo a change in leadership. AVI board chair Marilyn Callahan announced Wednesday that long-time executive director Miki Hansen is retiring at the end of July and will be replaced by Katrina Jensen, AVI's director of programs. "We are going to miss you a whole lot, we love you and we respect you," said Callahan, after a brief tribute to Hansen's accomplishments. [continues 352 words]
Needle Exchange Neighbours Upset With Chaos Created By Addicts After months of inaction from public officials, fed-up business owners and other neighbours of Victoria's needle exchange have turned to the courts to clean up the street problems centred around the Cormorant Street facility. A group of 13 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit July 5 aimed at stopping needle exchange clients from dealing drugs, injecting heroin, smoking crack and using the surrounding area as a giant outdoor toilet. Amelia Street lawyer Stewart Johnston, who is spearheading the legal action, said the group wants an interim court order requiring AIDS Vancouver Island to ensure needle exchange clients "refrain from carrying on activities near their property that cause problems for neighbours." [continues 51 words]
Federal Liberal heavyweight Bob Rae took a shot at the Conservative Party and gave a shot in the arm to Mayor Alan Lowe's safe consumption site bid. Rae met with local political, business and community leaders and toured the city's addiction, mental illness and homeless services last week. "If local community, the council and the province are on board, our position is license them and let it happen," Rae said. The City of Victoria, in cooperation with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, recently released its feasibility study on supervised consumption options in the City of Victoria. The report recommended the establishment of two to three sites in conjunction with health, detoxificatication and treatment services. [continues 155 words]
Needle exchanges like the AIDS Vancouver Island program have been shown to reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. They also serve as a bridge to drug treatment for an especially hard to reach population. Drug users are not the only beneficiaries. Consider the tragic experience of Canada's southern neighbor. U.S. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the U.S. are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. [continues 57 words]
Community Courts Bus Fare Protest The "honour system" has finally been abandoned on the Greater Vancouver buses. The establishment of "fare paid zones" beyond the driver's seat and at least the theoretical appearance of someone to check tickets is an effort to stem the problem of people refusing to pay and assaulting drivers who remind them the ride isn't quite free. It seems that once a city reaches a certain size, it doesn't have enough honour left for honour systems. Surveys indicate that Ottawa doesn't yet have bus anarchy, but Toronto does. [continues 825 words]
It's commendable that both local and provincial politicians are taking an alternate view on the omnipresent challenge of addiction in our society. Last week, local and provincial politicians alike returned to the forefront as they promoted addictions response and treatment processes. Locally, a report released last week supported some of the fundamental principles behind a drive to install a safe-injection site in the City of Victoria - a project keenly supported by Victoria mayor Alan Lowe. Provincially, Mainland MLA Lorne Mayencourt has brainstormed his idea for an addiction rehabilitation facility at the old CFB Baldy Hughes site near Prince George. [continues 403 words]
Site won't achieve it goals, however, without comprehensive support system, says study's lead author There's an excellent chance that a safe-consumption site in Victoria would improve the health of the city's addict population, reduce the spread of HIV and help at least some IV drug users kick the habit. But none of that will happen unless the Vancouver Island Health Authority provides a comprehensive support system of addiction treatment and counselling services. Those were the two main findings of a year-long study on the feasibility of a safe-consumption site in the City of Victoria that was released Tuesday at City Hall. [continues 509 words]
Tom Winterhoff's column in last Friday's paper provides an excellent portrayal of the challenges AIDS Vancouver Island faces in working to address the impacts that the needle exchange has on the surrounding neighbourhood. He accurately points out that the Vancouver Island Health Authority and the provincial government urgently need to attend to the effects of addiction, poverty and homelessness on our community. There are also two small, but significant, errors in Mr. Winterhoff's column that it is important to correct. [continues 136 words]
The emphasis at the Voices of Substance conference is on public dialogue. The second annual meeting will employ a new conversation technique called "open space technology" to engage participants in exchanging thoughts and ideas on substance use issues. "It's an attempt to be more democratic and participatory," explained Connie Carter, Voices of Substance spokesperson. The technique allows people to identify several themes related to substance use and break off into several smaller groups to focus on one theme. People can move and address other themes at any time. [continues 76 words]
Mile Zero If you ask people living in the 800-block of Cormorant Street to describe how well they've been sleeping lately, many will answer with exasperated sighs or tight-lipped grimaces of frustration. The area is one of downtown Victoria's acknowledged "hot spots" of illegal drug activity and it's also home to the needle exchange operated by AIDS Vancouver Island. Despite the best efforts of AVI officials, city employees, neighbourhood associations and the police, drug-related activities and unwelcome nighttime noise extends for several blocks in every direction. [continues 824 words]
Fresh off addressing his G8 counterparts on how to solve the world's health care crises, local MP Dr. Keith Martin remains more convinced than ever that harm reduction is the best way to deal with Victoria's addiction and homelessness crisis. And he's urging fellow politicians of both the federal and provincial variety to get with the program. Martin, who addressed gathering of G8 parliamentarians in Berlin last week, chastised the province for proposing to reallocate $450,000 of AIDS Vancouver Island's budget to the Central and North Island at a time when the organization faces significant financial challenges. [continues 272 words]
Woman Died in Police Cell Fifteen months after Tracee Ann Riches died suddenly in police custody, authorities still don't know how she died or how the tragedy could have been prevented. Riches died in Victoria police cells on Feb. 7, 2006, more than a day after she was arrested for violating a court order to stay out of the so-called red zone in downtown Victoria. "It's a frustrating file for us. She was with us for 30 hours," said Victoria police Insp. Clark Russell. "The autopsy was inconclusive. There was no obvious cause of death." [continues 300 words]
Off Their Pot Medical Marijuana Patients Threatened Within Collection Action Any other terminally ill patient in Canada would have all his prescriptions covered by the Canadian health care system. Jason Wilcox owes so much money for his medication, Health Canada has cut off his supply and threatened to send a collection agency after him. Wilcox, a James Bay resident, is one of about 149 federally approved medical marijuana patients who have either failed to pay or refused to pay for their government grown pot, leaving the government with more than $140,000 in unpaid pot bills. [continues 604 words]
Re: Record meth haul by police (May 18) Learning that "the largest single seizure of crystal meth in department history" only amounts to "one kilogram of crystal methamphetamine" raises questions about the meth scare being promoted by Victoria police officers. How can a trickle of meth so small possibly supply the epidemic of meth addiction they claim exists or is the "epidemic" just more drug crusader propaganda? If the largest seizure in history is only one kilogram of crystal meth the drug warriors are either absurdly ineffective in stopping drugs or they are greatly exaggerating the extent of the problem to enhance their budgets and power. Daly City, CA [end]
I'm writing about Alan Randell's outstanding letter: "Legal drugs the answer" (May 25). If we re-legalized all our illegal drugs so that they could be sold by licensed and regulated businesses for pennies per dose, would this eliminate our drug problems? No. However, doing so would substantially reduce the crime rate and increase public safety. Will we ever be able to eliminate our drug problems? No. However, we can substantially reduce the harm caused by our now illegal drugs. [continues 113 words]
Police Say Dealers Cutting Heroin With Ketamine A spike in drug overdoses and erratic, violent behaviour downtown has police worried that bad batches of drugs are making the rounds on Victoria streets. "We're seeing an increase in drug overdoses and severe drug reactions, resulting in some violent behaviour," said Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton. "We're finding that we have to physically restrain people like we do with excited delirium. They're screaming, they're yelling, they're grunting... the guys are describing it as animalistic behaviour." [continues 156 words]
Lowe Calls Task Force A "Turning Point" In Dealing With Mental Illness, Addiction And Street Crime To most seasoned journalists, the term task force is a euphemism for "nothing is happening." But Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe says that's not the case with his recently announced Task Force on Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness in Our Community. "This is not just another study," Lowe promised during a well-attended press conference at city hall Thursday. "This is an action plan that will help us reconfigure our services and deliver them in a more cost-effective way." [continues 316 words]
Capital Ideas At the risk of making excuses for Victoria's mayor, I have to admit feeling a pang of sympathy for Alan Lowe as he unveiled his new task force on street issues. What struck me most was Lowe's comment that "no one person, or agency, or level of government can unilaterally bring about the change we need." Victoria politicians spend a lot of time complaining about a lack of help from other levels of government. But this time the mayor has a point. [continues 796 words]
Re: "Treat the problem" (editorial, May 18). Answers are indeed in short supply about how to deal with "career criminals who steal from honest hardworking folks because the crooks need to feed their drug habits." That's because newspapers such as yours are extremely reluctant to suggest what would be the most effective answer: ending drug prohibition. Legalizing drugs will reduce the costs of currently illegal drugs so much that many more users will be able to finance their habit with their own money, just as alcohol and tobacco users currently do, rather than by stealing from others. Alan Randell Victoria [end]
For the most part, answers have been hard to come by debate over how to deal with career criminals who steal from honest hardworking folks because the crooks need to feed their drug habits. But there may be a ray of hope in Attorney General Wally Oppal's bid to establish community court system for chronic offenders who seem unable to free themselves from the twin evils of addiction and crime. The prevailing wisdom among criminologists is that longer sentences and more stringent parole requirements do little to deter crime. On the other hand, shortening sentences and granting parole more easily won't stop crooks from committing crimes either. [continues 425 words]
