Pubdate: Fri, 08 Apr 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Derek Peach
Page: A13
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n200/a09.html

HARM-REDUCTION SITE CHEAPER THAN ALTERNATIVE

Re: "Reduce harm from drug sites," editorial, March 29.

In 2008, the fixed-site needle exchange on Cormorant Street was 
closed due to pressure from nearby business owners and residents. 
That closure was attended by problems of sanitation and public 
safety, but it is inaccurate to blame those social issues on the 
facility in question.

Often, enlightened legislation will gradually have its support 
reduced to the point where it can no longer fulfil its mandate. At 
the Cormorant Street needle exchange, the budget was annually reduced 
and the skeleton staff was expected to be service providers - as well 
as counsellors, coffee makers, first-aid attendants and janitors. 
Public complaints received more attention than the informed voices of 
staff. Then, instead of having users with their needles at one 
location, they were distributed over a much wider area of the city.

We need a fixed site for the provision of medical services to one of 
our city's most vulnerable and marginalized populations. Insite in 
Vancouver has had no overdose deaths in the years it has been in 
operation, while fending off a vindictive federal government wanting 
it closed down. In Victoria, our death toll rises.

I know it costs money to house the homeless, to adequately staff 
supervised consumption sites, to provide portable toilets for street 
people and to police residential neighbourhoods. It is still cheaper 
than the alternatives we currently endure, and the research to 
support that assertion has been available for at least as long as the 
Cormorant Street needle exchange has been closed.

Derek Peach Victoria
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom