The percentage of injection drug users who report sharing needles has risen from 10 to 23 since the closure of the fixed-site needle exchange. The data collected in late 2009 comes from the latest report by the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research. The centre has been monitoring drug use for three years. "The closure of the fixed-site needle exchange in May 2008 and the subsequent 15,000 fewer clean needles distributed each month in Victoria since then likely explain these results," said study co-author Andrew Ivsins, a research assistant. [continues 155 words]
Re: If gambling's good, why not pot? (Chris Foulds, Aug. 11) There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition. [continues 58 words]
I spoke to Kevin Krueger recently to ask him to explain the difference between his party's voracious criticism of gambling expansion (in particular online wagering) while in opposition and the fact it is salivating as it expands gambling like no other government in North America. During the conversation, the Kamloops-South Thompson MLA and tourism minister compared government involvement in cyber-casinos to the failed prohibition experience of eight decades ago. "There's no going back," he said of government's foray into gambling. "It's like alcohol. Prohibition ended up benefitting organized crime and government changed its mind." [continues 613 words]
Victoria city council is not ready to rule out playing landlord to a fixed-site needle exchange facility. "When it comes to the delivery of harm-reducation supplies and services, you need to go where you're going to have the maximum impact," said Coun. Philippe Lucas. That location might be public or private facility, he said. "It doesn't make any sense to be self-limited as to where those services might be." His comments contradict recommendations by city staff. [continues 119 words]
Re: Victoria encouraged to act now on harm-reduction for drug users (News, March 17) The emphasis continues to be on the plight of the drug users, without paying any attention to the vast majority of the victims, who are namely the general public. It is difficult to have any sympathy for the drug users, almost all of whom elected the lifestyle through bad decisions. In all the talk about safe injection sites, the main forgotten point is that addicts still have to pay for the drugs they buy on the street, perhaps an average of $100 per day. [continues 62 words]
When word got out through the media about a potential new needle exchange on Princess Avenue, a funny thing happened. All the voices of the activists for harm-reduction services got drowned out by a handful of neighbours. Their outcry totally dominated public discussion. Over and over through the media, they asked: How could the health authority break its promise by considering a site so close to schools and families? But where was the other side of the argument? Where were the demonstrators who marched in the street on the anniversary of the closure of the Cormorant Street needle exchange? Where was the mayor? Where was the police chief? [continues 486 words]
Esquimalt council coloured in a grey area in its zoning bylaw Monday, adopting a new zoning designation for recovery homes. The change requires a recovery homes to have a distinct designation. Previously, homes for people dealing with drug or alcohol addiction fell into the same category as single-family dwellings. This left council little control over their operations since they were neither a home or a business. "We wanted to ensure that the facilities would be properly set up in the appropriate zone so they could best fit into the community, so this allows us to have that control," said Mayor Barb Desjardins. [continues 383 words]
People need to know whether the house they're eying for purchase has a history as a grow-op, says a representative for the province's home inspectors. "As home inspectors, we may see properties we suspect are grow-ops but it's difficult to prove," said Owen Dicki, president of the B.C. chapter for Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors. From one municipality to another, there is no consistent way of identifying formers grow-op. While some cities keep local registries, others -- such as Victoria -- don't. [continues 241 words]
Re: Rooming house location questioned (Letters, Jan. 27) I must respond to letter-writer Heather Wright regarding a proposed rooming house that would be across from an elementary school. I am sad and frustrated every time a housing, drug and alcohol or a mental health facility initiative is brought forward and it gets shut down because there is a school, a day care, or any other children's facility in the area. If this is going to be how it is decided where human beings will live, receive care and get healthier, we may as well give up trying now as there will always be a reason to not use a targeted location. [continues 219 words]
Lured by price and convenience, Victoria's drug addicts are swapping heroin for crack cocaine, says a report by the Centre for Addictions Research B.C. The result has been fewer drug deaths, but a marked increase in mental illness, says the report. "We're getting more crazy people and fewer dead people," said Tim Stockwell, director at CARB.C. There's also fewer cases of HIV and hepatitis C. Since crack is smoked, rather than injected, "there's less spread of bloodborne viruses," said Stockwell. [continues 473 words]
It can be a long wait to see a welfare caseworker, and if nature calls, an even longer one. Recently, the income assistance office in Victoria at 908 Pandora Ave. shut down its client washrooms. For Alex Gomez, that meant finding one in the surrounding neighbourhood when he visited the office. "This is a place where a client has to sometimes wait anywhere up to four to six hours before seeing a caseworker," he wrote in an e-mail to the Victoria News. [continues 277 words]
Mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes have flooded the U.S. prison system. Putting one out of every 100 people in jail is draining the economy, tearing families apart and not helping Americans win their "war on drugs." Canadians should learn from this terrible example, not follow the same tragic path. Unfortunately, Bill C-15 is one step away from becoming law. It slipped through the House of Commons with little media coverage. It is now up for a third reading in the Senate. [continues 81 words]
It's the largest club at the University of Victoria and its 400 members are taking action against proposed legislation to toughen up on drugs. The goal of Hempology 101 Society is legalization of cannabis through education, said club leader Kristen Mann. "It's a safer recreational choice (than alcohol) for the kids to be using," she said. "It's an excellent raw material for everything from food to fiber." On Sept. 9, the society celebrates its 14th anniversary with a march to the legislature to protest bill C-15. [continues 165 words]
A building in the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood has been singled out as the frontrunner for a new fixed needle-exchange site. An agreement looks promising for the new pilot project, said Robert Randall, a member of the needle exchange advisory committee. It's been 14 months since the needle exchange on Cormorant Street closed. Ever since, the Vancouver Island Health Authority has been on the lookout for a replacement building. Resistance from landlords has been a major reason why alternative sites fell through, Randall said. The landlord in the Burnside-Gorge building, however, likes the idea. "He supports the idea of harm reduction ... To find a landlord OK with this is pretty amazing," Randall said. [continues 96 words]
Re: City backs plan to distribute crack-pipe gear (News, July 15) Kudos to Victoria city councillor Geoff Young for being willing to stand up against the distribution of crack-pipe gear to addicts. On the other side, the crack dealers are no doubt celebrating this move by the city. In June 2008, a city report indicated the average drug addict was committing annual crimes of about $350,000 in value in order to feed his drug habit. Multiply that by the number of addicts, and the figure is truly staggering in terms of costs to society. [continues 96 words]
Esquimalt may want nothing to do with them, but Victoria's impatient to get the crack kits flowing. On Thursday, city council voted to support the Vancouver Island Health Authority's push to distribute free crack paraphernalia. "I'm actually just surprised that they haven't done it already," said Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe. In a draft letter to VIHA, council requested a pilot project to distribute crack kits, including a mouthpiece and push stick. "It is clear that harm reduction initiatives go a long way to reducing the transmission of communicable disease," said council's letter of support. [continues 259 words]
Victoria police have concluded that misinformation and a delayed response contributed to the death of 28-year-old Jonathan Guitard. On Dec. 13, 2008, Guitard was found by a security guard lying on the ground in the 800 block of Courtney Street. The guard called the non-emergency line and stated he need help to move a drug user who was not responding to him. The investigation indicates failure by the complaint taker to gather enough information led to the incorrect classification of the call. The call was tagged as an "unwanted person" rather than a "man down." Further questioning would have revealed the urgency of the situation, changing police's response, states the internal investigation. [continues 147 words]
The question came out of the blue. "Would you have more fun on the fair rides if you did crystal meth?" Janice Male's 10-year-old grandson bluntly asked her one day. Male's grandson was one of 80 Oaklands elementary school students to take part in the inaugural Crystal Meth Society of B.C.'s drug awareness program DrugAware 101, aimed at Grade 4 and 5 students. It's a program Male believes may help children, like her grandson, break through the chatter fed to them in fair grounds and school yards. [continues 185 words]
Organizers Set Up Temporary Site At Pandora Avenue And Vancouver Street It's been a year since the closure of the controversial fixed site needle exchange in Victoria. With the creation of a new location not imminent, members of Harm Reduction Victoria and about 75 supporters took to the streets Sunday to mark the anniversary with a march and the setting up of a "guerilla needle exchange." "We're basically demanding that VIHA (Vancouver Island Health Authority) follow through on what it said it would do," said Harm Reduction Victoria spokesperson Kim Toombs. [continues 390 words]
Re: Victoria's top cop vows to catch drug dealers (News, May 22) With all due respect to my colleague, Chief Jamie Graham, he knows it is not drugs and violence that go together, rather drug trade and violence. We know that every drug dealer ever arrested or shot is replaced very quickly. The only net effect of a drug bust is the taxpayers must build another prison bed. The only thing that strikes terror into the hearts of drug dealers is one word: legalization. Howard J. Wooldridge Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Washington, D.C. [end]
Re: Victoria's top cop vows to catch drug dealers (News, May 22) The News merely repeats the propaganda message when it quotes Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham as saying that "drugs and violence go together" without questioning the accuracy of the statement. That this is Chief Graham's opinion does not make it fact, however much he may think so. As our U.S. neighbours proved with the Volstead Amendment, it is neither drugs nor alcohol that goes with violence. It is prohibition that creates the high prices for otherwise inexpensive commodities. [continues 119 words]
Re: Victoria's top cop vows to catch drug dealers (News, May 22) Funny, back in March, Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham said it was alcohol and alcohol abuse that was Victoria's number No. 1 problem. Never mind, he says, it's drugs now. Regardless of tough words, we have come to expect a low standard of policing, with less than convincing, or even coherent, justification of the need for increased staffing and funding. Despite growing criticism in some circles, the war on drugs remains a given for the vast majority of Victorians. It has, in some ways, been a model for local government programs, continuing not due to success, but because of its failure. [continues 128 words]
Vancouver Island Health Authority is looking for community support to distribute free crack kits. In 2007, the health authority was pressured by Nanaimo council and former mayor Gary Korpan to halt distribution of free crack pipes in the city's downtown. Since then, the authority commited to consult all Island communities before proceeding with its harm reduction program. Now in the midst of meeting with Victoria and Esquimalt, VIHA hopes to get the municipalities on side and get the ball rolling. [continues 420 words]
It's been a year and nothing is happening, says the organizer of March for Dignity. On Sunday (May 31), advocates of a fixed-site needle exchange will be taking to Victoria streets to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the closing of the city's only fixed-site needle exchange. "It's been an entire year gone by without any movement at all," said march organizer Kim Toombs. "It is very, very frustrating." The city's needle exchange on Cormorant Street was closed after neighbours complained about drug use on adjacent streets. [continues 273 words]
Drug Dealers Be Warned: Your Days Are Numbered. Victoria police chief Jamie Graham is out to get you. "We will continue to target those who infiltrate our communities and undermine everything decent we stand for," said Graham. "Drugs and violence go together, that's why we are targeting the most violent dealers." Last week, police seized $300,000 worth of drugs after 100 officers raided six suspected drug trafficking locations in the Capital Region. The two-month-long case involved eight police organizations making it the South Island's largest co-ordinated investigation. [continues 192 words]
After 35 years of experience with mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, Americans are beginning to abandon this discredited approach. Yet Stephen Harper's Conservative government now wants to saddle Canadians with these expensive and ineffective laws. Now before a Commons committee, Bill C-15 would impose a two-year mandatory minimum for dealing drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines in places where young people congregate. It would also impose a six-month jail sentence for growing even a single marijuana plant for the purposes of trafficking. [continues 227 words]
Three Victoria-Beacon Hill candidates, including NDP MLA Carole James, threw their support behind a fixed needle exchange site during an all-candidates meeting Wednesday night (April 29) at Our Place. Green party candidate Adam Saab felt it was one way to start tackling the psychological issues associated with people living in poverty and addicted to drugs. Support for a fixed needle exchange site was also echoed by independent Saul Anderson. "Victoria definitely needs a needle exchange site, there's no question," said the Victoria taxi driver. "We need harm reduction programs because they save lives. Drug users are not criminals in the true sense. They are people who are suffering and need help. It's a health problem not a criminal problem." [continues 297 words]
One fight against gang violence starts with decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, says Keith Martin. Today, the Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP is introducing a bill in the House of Commons recommending fines instead of of criminal charges for anyone found with two pot plants or less than 30 grams of marijuana. "This bill is bad news for criminal gangs, which are the only beneficiaries of the status quo because it would eliminate demand for their product," Martin said in a press release. Martin proposed a similar bill twice before, but both times they were voted down. [continues 86 words]
As he dished out cash for a slim, silver scale the Sacred Herbs customer scoffed at the idea. If Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca's MP Keith Martin thinks his proposed bill decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana is going to take money out of gang member's pockets, he doesn't understand system, he said while stuffing the scale into his bag. "I fail to see any correlation there," he said, shaking his head. "People who would say that don't understand the situation." [continues 776 words]
Three simple but very important questions: 1. Montreal Metro and Quebec police arrested dozens of gangsters using the same laws as we work under. Why can we not do the same in B.C.? 2. Billions of tax-free illicit drug dollars have flowed through the B.C. economy over the years. Why is this permitted? 3. Senior governments will hire and pay staff auditors to make sure your personal income taxes are paid and sales tax collected by business are remitted, yet we do not have a top notch "watchdog" staff of forensic auditors checking on the illegal transfer of drug money, why? No further comment. Bob Ritchie Qualicum Beach [end]
Re: Careful when picking up discarded needles (News, Feb. 6). The Victoria Downtown Business Association has partnered with AIDS Vancouver Island and the Downtown Clean and Safe Committee to have a "tool kit" available for those who have issues with inappropriately discarded needles around their properties, especially since the closure of the fixed site needle exchange. The tool kit was developed with materials offered by Streetsafe in Edmonton. The tool kit is not an alternative for safe needle pick up and is not meant to provide those who use needles the freedom to leave their paraphernalia anywhere. It is meant for those who don't mind cleaning their areas and would like to do it safely. [continues 153 words]
Support Group Says Many Addicts Falling Through The Cracks It's a good step, but it likely won't eliminate wait lists. So said Gordon Harper, executive director of the Victoria-based Umbrella Society for Addictions and Mental Health, after a new 21-bed community medical detox unit was unveiled at the Eric Martin Pavilion. Standing in the pale green common room at the new ward Friday, Harper said the unit is an improvement over the seven detox beds previously available. [continues 270 words]
Re: 'B.C. losing the war on drug gangs' (B.C. Views, Jan. 14) RCMP marijuana eradication efforts are no doubt well-intended, but ultimately counterproductive. The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand causes big money to grow on little trees. Canadian tax dollars are being wasted on anti-drug strategies that only make marijuana growing more profitable. In 2002, the Canadian Senate offered a common-sense alternative to prohibition when the Special Committee on Illegal Drugs concluded that marijuana is relatively benign, marijuana prohibition contributes to organized crime and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use. Consider the experience of Canada's southern neighbor, the former land of the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated. Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions, a majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. [continues 71 words]
Tom Fletcher isn't just accurately describing the way things are; He's describing the direction things are moving too. In the early 1970's the Le Dain Commission's report, along with Canada's 2002 Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs report unanimously recommended to regulate cannabis (marijuana) the same way as alcohol. Since Canada ignored those recommendations, the problems associated with prohibiting the relatively safe, socially acceptable, God-given plant cannabis have escalated. And it's not limited to Canada; look at what's happening in the U.S. and Mexico. [continues 137 words]
There's one area of B.C. business investment that's seen a boom in rural areas. Unfortunately, it's organized crime. You may have heard the saga of Likely, a tiny community east of Williams Lake. Last fall RCMP confirmed results of a two-year investigation that found eight properties with buildings fitted for large-scale marijuana growing. At least one of those has been seized under civil forfeiture legislation, a powerful new tool in targeting proceeds of crime. Nine Lower Mainland residents were charged. [continues 631 words]
The 'no-go' zone has got to go, says Harm Reduction Victoria. The designated downtown zone in which no mobile needle exchange or drug supply distribution can occur is compromising the health of those in need, said Harm Reduction Victoria member Kim Toombs. Designated by the city's needle exchange advisory committee after the closure of AIDS Vancouver Island's fixed-site needle exchange on Cormorant Street in May, the zone spans west to east from Blanshard Street to Chambers Street and north to south from Balmoral Avenue to Yates Street, the heart of the IV drug users' community. [continues 276 words]
How about the local church if Victoria needs a needle exchange service? That would be the most obvious choice if Canadians were to deal with the base of addiction instead of medicalizing spirituality. All the so-called treatment that goes on in the case of drug addiction boils down to soul doctoring when looked at under the microscope. None of that is the business of medicine. There have always been people who rejected the values of the mainstream. That is what the so-called drug addict is. Addiction is a chosen lifestyle, not a disease that could strike anybody at any moment. [continues 168 words]
Two buildings have been looked at as possible fixed sites for Victoria's needle exchange services, but nothing suitable has yet been found. "So far, I can tell you we've had nothing that's even remotely promising," said Shannon Turner, director of public health with the Vancouver Island Health Authority. Turner has received phone calls from people "with all kinds of outlandish tales," reporting they've heard a fixed site would be opening in specific locations around the city. Victoria's only fixed needle exchange, run for VIHA by service provider AIDS Vancouver Island on Cormorant Street, closed at the end of May after being dogged by controversy over public disorder outside its doors. [continues 383 words]
Circulating vans have been dropped from the mix of methods for providing needle exchange services to Victoria's injection drug users. The vans, driving a loop around Rock Bay, weren't reaching the people in need, AIDS Vancouver Island executive director Katrina Jensen told city councillors Thursday. "The population served by the needle exchange is very diverse. We've got a range of clients, not just the street-involved homeless people, but people who hold down jobs and live in outlying communities," she said. [continues 441 words]
Today I received a 'fear request card' from Conservative candidate Jack McClintock, a 25-year police veteran. The headline was "Have you had enough?" and it featured a photograph of police tape sealing off a door. On the back was a promise to make our streets safer by "getting tough." My answer to Jack: Yes, I have had enough . of scare campaigns targeted at raising our fears in hopes of enacting ineffective policies. Of the statistics I am aware of, our streets are not unsafe. Yes, street crimes do occur, but is the effective solution to 'get tough,' such as by mandatory minimum sentences? [continues 186 words]
I wish to applaud Harm Reduction Victoria, the conveners of the community forum held Sept. 18 to discuss the loss of Victoria's fixed needle exchange. The discussion expanded into the effect of illicit drugs overall, affordable housing and other social problems. There appeared one common plea - the problems have been studied to death. Action now is essential to prevent further decay, disintegration and agony in human society. As a former alderman in the city of Prince Albert, Sask., I sat on the boards of hospital, regional health authority and police commissions. As a paramedical professional for more than 50 years, I am aware of at least one cardinal rule in medical practice - find the cause, remove it, prevent recurrence. [continues 97 words]
The number of clean needles being handed out has dropped dramatically since Victoria's fixed-site needle exchange shut its doors at the end of May. Figures released by the Vancouver Island Health Authority last week show the number of clean needles being handed out by all service providers dropped from a monthly average of 45,400 in the first four months of 2008 to 24,700 in June, the first month without a fixed exchange site. At the same time, the number of used needles being collected in the city dropped by more than 60 per cent, from 36,900 to 13,400. [continues 167 words]
Things in Victoria have gotten really bad, says a street nurse. Carolyn Showler, who works out of the Victoria Cool Aid Society's Swift Street clinic, has seen homeless and drug addicts - who once had a place to congregate, get help and receive basic daily needs - disappear. Since AIDS Vancouver Island was forced to shut the doors to its Cormorant Street facility in May - it was Victoria's sole fixed-site needle exchange - those needing help have spread around town. This makes it difficult for people like Showler, who promote harm reduction, to maintain contacts and ensure people are getting care. [continues 494 words]
While it's not a given that people who become homeless and/or hang out downtown for most the better part of their day will become addicted to injection drugs, odds are not in their favour. And it's a fact that property crime is connected to intravenous drug users. It's clear, then, the city and the Vancouver Island Health Authority need to come to grips with the fact that having no fixed needle exchange, from both a harm reduction and a crime prevention standpoint, is a symptom of a sick community. [continues 252 words]
Re: Council Briefs, Aug. 20 Keith Vass informs us in this article that 'the City of Victoria won't seek to regulate location of needle exchange services through zoning amendments.' This outrageous dereliction of duty on the part of the Victoria city council follows a July letter sent by Mayor Alan Lowe encouraging the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) to dispense hypodermic needles out of all of its facilities. This is a pathetic, stealthy betrayal by the mayor and council of the public interest, particularly that of parents of vulnerable children at the nearby Victoria Conservatory of Music, St. Andrew's elementary and preschool and Christ Church Cathedral Preschool. [continues 263 words]
Since Victoria's main fixed-site needle exchange shut down there has been a drop in exchanges, but that was expected, Vancouver Island Health Authority CEO Howard Waldner says. "Obviously we are in the middle of a change so no the numbers are not yet at (the previous) level but we are moving in the right direction," he said. At the end of May, the AIDS Vancouver Island-run Cormorant Street needle exchange location was closed after being served with an eviction notice spurred by a flurry of neighbourhood complaints about disorder and waste. In June, the organization, which is funded by VIHA, started needle exchanges from mobile units. [continues 207 words]
Alan Campbell Knows The Enormity Of Victoria's Addiction Problems. But as with all things, change takes time and money, said the director of Vancouver Island Health Authority's mental health and addition services. Some steps forward have taken place since the city unveiled its Mayor's Task Force Report on Homelessness in October 2007. More outreach teams hit the streets and in-house detoxification care is now available, Campbell said. But Victoria has lost a fixed needle exchange to be replaced by mobile exchange for at least a year. The city also only has seven critical detox beds which deal with people addicted to opiates, heroin, and alcohol - all of which have medical side effects from quitting. [continues 397 words]
Re "Victoria Needle Exchange Expected to Stay Mobile" (News, June 11) It is a travesty that Victoria will have no fixed-site needle exchange for at least a year. It is urgent that VIHA and the City of Victoria take immediate action to find a new location for the needle exchange. Experts agree the mobile service alone will not do the job, and will in fact risk higher rates of HIV infection and more needles in our parks and streets. VIHA bears a lot of the blame here. The secretive approach to the proposed Pandora site was totally unacceptable. Residents need to have input into decisions that affect their neighbourhoods. [continues 123 words]
Jordan is 17 years old and he is about to take the biggest step in his life. Although fearful, he is one of the lucky ones, as the same opportunity escapes many teenagers. After six months of coming clean from crystal meth, Jordan is graduating from the Salvation Army-operated Beacon of Hope recovery home. The six-bed house is the only free residential youth supportive recovery facility in Greater Victoria - a service not yet offered on Vancouver Island for females. [continues 489 words]
Re: Look closely at effectiveness of safe injection site (Opinion, June 4) Victoria Coun. Geoff Young ignored one important fact - users of Insite are more likely to enter rehab than non-users of Insite. But it's not the access to treatment, disease prevention, crime reduction, or any of the many practical arguments that will ultimately prevail. It's the basic message - you may be a homeless, drug-addicted prostitute, but you're still a Canadian and we don't want you to die. Marcus Rummery Vancouver [end]
