Swinging the blunt hammer of law enforcement on the heads of drug addicts is no solution to a major drug problem, and it's one of the most worrying elements of the federal Conservative government's crime policy. The Tories are planning a meeting with the United States' federal "drug czar," John Walters, sometime in the new year, to co-ordinate policy between our countries. His visit to Canada is now supposed to follow legislation for a crackdown on drug producers and sellers. [continues 489 words]
Force's Research Criticizes The Lauded Safe-Injection Site And Asserts That The Program Increases Drug Use VANCOUVER -- The RCMP is under heavy fire for its criticism of Vancouver's pioneering supervised injection site for heroin users, a project that has won positive reviews from more than a dozen rigorous research studies. In a critical, three-page report on the site, Staff-Sergeant Chuck Doucette questioned findings of the numerous peer-reviewed studies, while pointing to "considerable evidence" that making drug use safer increases the number of users. [continues 700 words]
The federal government's decision to cancel the Medical Marijuana Research Program (MMRP) sends a strong message that clinical research into the risks and benefits of herbal cannabis -- the kind distributed by Ottawa under Supreme Court order -- is not a priority. The discontinuation also signals Canada is no longer interested in being a leader in cannabinoid research despite its unique position as the only country with a federally controlled marijuana grow-op to supply registered users. The federal government has "suddenly taken away the research, or the possibility to do additional research, to inform not only the physicians but patients about safety and efficacy," says Dr. Mark Ware, the sole researcher to receive MMRP funding. [continues 796 words]
The latest study on Vancouver's Insite safe injection site has proven once again what we already know. That a safe injection site saves lives. In the report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers show how the site has led to an increased incidence of drug users getting help for their addiction while slowing down the spread of HIV and other communicable and preventable diseases. The evidence from this study, proves beyond any doubt, that these sites are critical to solving our drug problems and reducing harm. And while the success of the site is not in question, it is important to recognize that a safe-injection site is only one part of a comprehensive harm reduction strategy. [continues 302 words]
Vancouver is renowned for many things, a truly cosmopolitan city, voted by The Economist magazine as the most livable city in the world in 2005. But Vancouver also has another side to it, a more notorious side. Vancouver is the heroin capital of North America. This past week, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) released a summary of findings related to Vancouver's Insite, North America's first supervised injection site. Insite is a place where heroin addicts and other injection drug users can go to inject under clean, safe, and supervised conditions. The report, led by British Columbia epidemiologist Mark Wood, found that the site generated "a large number of health and community benefits, [while] there have been no indications of community or health-related harms." [continues 1405 words]
A new study conducted in seven Canadian cities reveals that prescription painkillers known as opioids are becoming Canada's leading street drugs. The findings raise questions about the current focus of Canada's drug control policy and treatment programs. A team led by Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a researcher with the Centre for Addictions Research (CARBC) at the University of Victoria, published its findings in the Nov. 21 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). [continues 261 words]
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government cut off federal funding for Vancouver's controversial supervised injection site for drug addicts because it wants a "diversity" of opinions before deciding on the facility's future, Health Minister Tony Clement said yesterday. Clement was responding to a report in the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that summarized various research, indicating mostly positive outcomes, since the pilot project was initiated three years ago. The article said studies have shown a large reduction in public drug use, fewer incidents of addicts sharing syringes and discarding them in public places, and increased use of detoxification services in Vancouver. There has been no increase in drug-dealing around the facility in the city's Downtown Eastside. [continues 104 words]
OTTAWA -- The federal government is using flimsy evidence to justify its opposition to Canada's only safe injection site for drug addicts, according to a report to be published today. And if Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government eventually closes the site, scientific evidence suggests "a high potential for negative impacts on health and the community," according to the report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The Harper government, voicing doubts about the project's utility, announced Sept. 1 that it would only extend the facility's permission to legally operate until Dec. 31, 2007. [continues 451 words]
TABLE OF CONTENTS: * This Just In http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n476.html#sec1 (1) Dealer Sentenced In Drug Overdose (2) Crisis In Colombia Shakes Colombia (3) Cannabis Is Linked To Rising Child Crime And Harder Drugs (4) Editorial: Addicted To Failure * Weekly News in Review http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2006/ds06.n476.html#sec2 Drug Policy (5) OPED: Take Another Crack At That Out-Of-Whack Cocaine Law (6) Editorial: Crack Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines Need Changes (7) Column: Just Say No To The Expensive And Ineffectual War On Drugs (8) Editorial: Drugheads (9) School Board Rejects Drug Test Grant [continues 282 words]
Correspondence to: Dr. Mark A. Wainberg, McGill University AIDS Centre, Jewish General Hospital, 3755 chemin de la Cote Ste-Catherine, Montreal QC H3T 1E2; mark.wainberg@mcgill.ca In this issue of the CMAJ, 2 important articles shed light on policies that Canada should adopt to stem the spread of HIV infection among users of illicit drugs. In the first article, Evan Wood and colleagues of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS provide a summary of the findings from the evaluation of the supervised safer injecting facility established in Vancouver in September 2003 (page 1399).1 Individuals who use this site inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under medical supervision in conditions that assure safer use of clean needles and syringes than might otherwise be expected. [continues 1360 words]
Correspondence to: Dr. Benedikt Fischer, Centre for Addictions Research of BC, University of Victoria, Rm. 124, Technology Enterprise Facility, PO Box 1700 Stn CSC, Victoria BC V8W 2Y2; fax 250 472-5321; bfischer@uvic.ca For almost a century, heroin addiction has been a core element of the illicit drug use problem in Canada.1,2 According to recent data, there are an estimated 125 000 injection drug users in Canada, most of whom use heroin and cocaine.3 Heroin addiction is associated with a variety of harms, including death, morbidity and crime. There are many examples of these harms: the number of overdose-related deaths in British Columbia rose dramatically from 39 to 331 between 1988 and 1993;4 the majority of new cases of hepatitis C in Canada are related to illicit drug use;5 and most heroin addicts are involved in regular criminal activity.6 Considerable public resources are expended on heroin addiction. Canadian law enforcement agencies direct substantial expenditures to prevent heroin importation and distribution -- albeit with limited success.7,8 On the health care side, the number of people receiving methadone maintenance treatment (the primary treatment response for heroin addiction) has increased 5 times since the mid-1990s, to about 25 000 spaces across Canada.9-11 Furthermore, alternative treatment options are in development, including buprenorphine maintenance and medical heroin treatment.3,12,13 In the past several years, there have been isolated reports of substantially increased levels of prescription opioid abuse in Canada, the United States and other jurisdictions.14-16 However, until now, its impact on usage patterns among street drug users in Canada has been unclear and not systematically documented. [continues 2047 words]
Opportunistic infections that were the hallmark of the early days of the AIDS epidemic in Canada -- PCP, MAC, CMV and meningitis -- are conditions that nurse Doreen Littlejohn sees regularly at the Vancouver Native Health Society. These infections -- Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Mycobacterium avium complex and cytomegalovirus -- are rarely seen now among, for example, male homosexuals who still make up the majority of Canadians living with HIV, observes Mark Tyndall, an HIV/AIDS researcher at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS. [continues 477 words]
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FROM THE EVALUATION OF A PILOT MEDICALLY SUPERVISED SAFER INJECTING FACILITY Correspondence to: Dr. Evan Wood, Division of Epidemiology and Population Health, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, 608-1081 Burrard St., Vancouver BC V6Z 1Y6; fax 604 806-9044; ewood@cfenet.ubc.ca In many cities, infectious disease and overdose epidemics are occurring among illicit injection drug users (IDUs). To reduce these concerns, Vancouver opened a supervised safer injecting facility in September 2003. Within the facility, people inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of medical staff. The program was granted a legal exemption by the Canadian government on the condition that a 3-year scientific evaluation of its impacts be conducted. In this review, we summarize the findings from evaluations in those 3 years, including characteristics of IDUs at the facility, public injection drug use and publicly discarded syringes, HIV risk behaviour, use of addiction treatment services and other community resources, and drug-related crime rates. Vancouver's safer injecting facility has been associated with an array of community and public health benefits without evidence of adverse impacts. These findings should be useful to other cities considering supervised injecting facilities and to governments considering regulating their use. [continues 4757 words]
Heroin is losing ground among Niagara's drug users who are turning to prescription narcotics to get their fix, police and addiction experts say. OxyContin, morphine, Percodan and other legal drugs are being trafficked in increasing quantities in the region, said Staff Sgt. George Ravenek of the NRP intelligence unit. "Heroin has to be brought into the country illegally and distributed, but something like OxyContin is much easier to get hold of," he said. Norma Medulun, director of the Niagara Health System's addictions services program, says addicts hooked on these drugs are showing up in growing numbers. [continues 419 words]
THE Conservative government has long cast a suspicious eye on Vancouver's safe injection site. When you're busy talking tough on crime, on the surface, it doesn't look good to go promoting ways for addicts to shoot up. These sentiments were undoubtedly considered when the feds announced in September they would only extend the site's permission to operate until December 2007 - even though Health Canada officials were in favour of extending that until 2009. In denying the longer timetable, Health Minister Tony Clement's office said "research" had "raised questions" about the effectiveness of the site. [continues 156 words]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government cut off federal funding for Vancouver's controversial supervised injection site for drug addicts because it wants a "diversity" of opinions before deciding on the facility's future, Health Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday. Clement was responding to a report in the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal which summarized various research, indicating mostly positive outcomes, since the pilot project was initiated three years ago. The article said studies have shown a large reduction in public drug use, fewer incidents of addicts sharing syringes and discarding them in public places, and increased use of detoxification services in Vancouver. There has been no increase in drug-dealing around the facility in the city's Downtown Eastside. [continues 59 words]
An effective strategy to fight drug addiction is vitally important for B.C., not only in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, but for the community as a whole, which suffers from drug-related crime and other social ills. One of the four pillars of the current approach led to the setting up three years ago of the country's first safe-injection site, where addicts consume their illegal drugs under supervision. This week, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a summary of research into the pilot project suggesting it has been a success. [continues 167 words]
Heroin is on its way out of fashion on Canadian streets. Addicts are turning to doctors and pharmacists rather than to dealers. This could be good news if governments react to the trend intelligently and quickly. In the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a group of researchers tracks changes in illicit use of opioids -- drugs such as morphine, codeine and heroin -- between 2001 and 2005. The sample of 585 users came from several Canadian cities. Most were white men, with an average age of 35. Half were "not stably housed." [continues 409 words]
Study Discovers Systematic Shift Away From Heroin Forget heroin. Legal prescription drugs readily available in pharmacies are now the major source of illicit opioid drug abuse in several major Canadian cities, which raises questions about drug control in the country, a new study released today reveals. Although heroin addiction has been one of the most significant drug problems in Canada for years, research shows users are turning to opioids, or prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin, Percocet and morphine, at an increasing rate. [continues 354 words]
Study Findings 'Quite Shocking' TORONTO -- Heroin is no longer the opiate of choice among many substance abusers -- prescription narcotics such as morphine and OxyContin are taking its place, says a study of street users in seven cities across the country. Researchers found that heroin remains the No. 1 illicit opiate only in Vancouver and Montreal. In the five other cities -- Edmonton, Toronto, Quebec City, Fredericton and Saint John, N.B. -- more often than not, getting high means grinding up and injecting prescription opioids like Percodan. [continues 266 words]
