Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Page: B1 Author: Frances Bula Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) LARGER METHADONE PROGRAM FOR DRUG ADDICTS PROPOSED More Prevention And Treatment For Young People Is Included In Vancouver City Council's Drug Strategy Vancouver's latest version of its drug strategy has added recommendations for more prevention and treatment for young people, more help for parents and a larger methadone treatment program. But it doesn't back down on its controversial proposals such as creating a task force on safe-injection sites or support for a medical experiment that would give heroin to hard-core addicts. Nor does it put more emphasis on enforcement, in spite of an intense campaign from a group called the Community Alliance which represents some downtown neighbourhoods near Vancouver's worst drug area. A summary of public response to the city's plans over the last few months suggests that the Community Alliance's opposition is not shared by more people in Vancouver. "We thought there would be a lot more anxiety from the community than there was," says Mayor Philip Owen, who has taken the lead in supporting a comprehensive drug strategy for the city. "I thought harm reduction would be revised more than any other area." But the public was generally so supportive that the most substantive changes were in the areas of prevention and treatment, two of the four "pillars" in the city's approach. (The others are harm reduction and enforcement.) The recommendations include: * Pilot prevention projects for high-risk inner-city children between the ages of eight and 13. * A treatment centre for addicted young people with a program that lasts up to two years. * A pilot project aimed at getting people in the sex trade off the street. * A public-education program for parents. * An increase in the availability of methadone, a substance used to wean heroin addicts from their drug, to create 2,000 new clients in the Lower Mainland. * A new emphasis on preventing needles from being discarded in public places. Councillors say they are generally satisfied with the new report, although some said if the strategy is going to be successful, there will have to be some way of measuring whether it achieves its goals. Coucillor Jennifer Clarke said the document is innovative and she recognizes some measures are controversial. "But we've got to start the discussion." She said she will be pushing to make sure that the strategy has clear goals and clear ways of assessing whether those goals are being met. Councillor Don Lee, who often carries concerns from the directly affected Chinatown neighbourhood to council, expressed the most reservations. Although he'd vote in favour of the report, he also said he thinks there should be more accountability built into the system with a monitoring process that evaluates whether neighbourhood conditions are improving. "I say we need monitoring of programs not just for drug users but also for the community and the businesses. Are they doing better, are there fewer break-ins and so on. I'm very disappointed there is nothing like that." He also believes that the report should not emphasize harm reduction as a pillar, but incorporate it into the other three main strategies. The public will get another shot at expressing its views on the whole plan, this time directly to council, rather than the staff who were present at the forums over the past months. Comunity Alliance members had not seen the report Thursday and had no comment. Charles Lee, who has been active in mobilizing Chinatown opposition, also said he didn't want to comment immediately, saying only that "we are big advocates of treatment and opposed to enabling." - --- MAP posted-by: GD