Pubdate: Fri, 08 Sep 2006
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Victoria News
Contact:  http://www.vicnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

POLICE OFF THE MARK

It'll be interesting to see just how much clout  rank-and-file members
of police departments in this  country have in affecting whether
Vancouver's Insite  remains open and Victoria gets a safe injection
site.

Last week's unanimous vote by members of the Canadian  Police
Association was a specific move designed to make  the job of police
officers easier, which is why we  consider it short-sighted and insular.

While CPA vice-president and Vancouver Police Union  president Tom
Stamaktakis contends, in backing up the  association's vote, that
things are "worse than they've  ever been" on the Downtown East Side,
we feel that he  is not looking at the big picture.

Sure, police officers are generally the first ones to  face the danger
or be called on to come to the rescue  when something goes wrong at
street-level. But saying  that the safe injection site in and of
itself is the  main cause of the situation worsening is throwing out
the baby with the bath water.

The real problem is with the provincial and federal  governments, who
have not seen fit to properly fund the  programs intended all along to
accompany the service  being provided by Insite. A safe injection site
is just  one aspect of the four-pillar approach so lauded by
residents in Vancouver, that being harm reduction.

The other pillars are enforcement - police unions are  always calling
for more members on the street -  treatment and prevention, all areas
funded by the  province. In Victoria's case, a fifth pillar,
specialized housing, is seen to be equally important to  the equation
and it is generally funded by the feds.

Interestingly enough, both Victoria Chief Paul  Battershill and
Vancouver Chief Jamie Graham have  supported the idea of a four-pillar
approach to the  drug problems in their cities.

The 40-bed St. John the Divine Church shelter project,  funded in
large part by B.C. Housing, is helping with  current homelessness
problems in Victoria. Since drug  addiction intertwines with
homelessness, this  short-term solution may be a first step in
convincing  the province - and hopefully the feds, via Health  Canada
- - that our city can deal with its street issues  effectively.
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MAP posted-by: Derek