Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jul 2007
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Susan Martinuk
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Note: Susan Martinuk is a Vancouver columnist.

50 YEARS OF DRUG ADDICTION

VANCOUVER -'There's trouble in paradise."

That's the conclusion of a recent United Nations report on 
Vancouver's urban population. The city is "breathtakingly gorgeous," 
but seriously marred by the abject misery of its Downtown Eastside 
(DES), "? a two-kilometre square stretch of decaying rooming houses, 
seedy strip bars and shady pawn shops."

It's not exactly a startling conclusion. Vancouver is well-known as a 
living paradox, where the eyesore of the drug-infested DES exists 
alongside the most pristine beauty nature has to offer.

In fact, the UN's words practically mirror those of a CBC-TV report: 
"Right now in Vancouver's East End, they're taking their fixes. For a 
few drugged hours, they'll feel OK ? and then they will come to. In 
100 shabby dens, dingy hotels and cheap housekeeping rooms, 
Vancouver's drug-addict population will ask the same old questions. 
What can I steal today?"

The similarities in the descriptions are disturbing -- especially 
since the CBC report is from 1959.

Almost 50 years later, we have made little progress in altering the 
downward trajectory of life in the DES. Instead, the problem has 
flourished and the world-wide reputation of the DES as an open-drug 
society is now legendary.

Today, junkies shoot up in the streets or at a government-sponsored 
injection site. (Ironically, the spokesperson for the injection site 
is also leading an international initiative to legalize all drugs by 2020.)

There's no imperative to stop, limit or even hide drug use when those 
in charge are determined to give addicts unfettered access. Clearly, 
the inmate s are running the asylum.

In 1959, an addictions doctor says handing out free, legal drugs to 
addicts is just a "fantasy." Today, that "fantasy" is reality.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan recently announced a supposedly 
innovative proposal to supply addicts with legal forms of illegal 
drugs (heroin, crack cocaine and crystal meth) in pill form. Sullivan 
naively claims the delivery system is the core of the addiction 
problem, and is determined to change the drug culture of "depending 
on needles."

This is innovative thinking, indeed. Common sense suggests the drug 
is the problem, and the culture of drug dependence is what needs to 
change. And the best way to change an epidemic rooted in a particular 
behaviour, is to change the behaviour.

But common sense isn't "innovative" enough for those who are charged 
with resolving Vancouver's drug problem, yet obsessed with doing 
anything they can to facilitate drug use.

The success of Sullivan's plan ultimately depends on how that is 
defined. If the end goal is to give addicts a new chance at life and 
help them to become functioning members of society, then it will 
fail. On the other hand, if the end goal is to keep an entire 
population of humans in a dysfunctional state, consumed by a need for 
drugs and wandering the streets in pharmaceutical oblivion, then it's 
exactly what Vancouver needs. Job done.

Al Arsenault, a retired DES police officer who has made award-winning 
documentaries of life there, says the policy is "selling human 
potential down the road." He knows the addicts by name and says, 
"They don't need drugs, they need treatment. If Sullivan wants to 
change the drug culture, he has to fix the addict first."

I agree. Harm reduction waves the white flag of surrender, abandons 
an entire population to a lifetime of despair.

The Netherlands continues to deal with the partially living products 
of its state-sponsored harm reduction programs. It must now provide 
specialized housing for ageing addicts who, in their 30s and 40s, are 
experiencing medical problems common to those in their 80s. These 
"elderly addicts" are maintained on drugs while they wait for death to come.

Satisfying the whims of drug addicts won't improve the neighbourhood 
or Vancouver's international reputation. It won't transform the DES 
into a safe, prosperous and desirable neighbourhood for businesses 
and families, or move addicts forward into a real, functional life.

History shows that years of compassionate chatter and political 
solutions (that only give the appearance of doing something) have 
done little to evoke any real change in the DES. In 1959, there were 
just four detox beds available. In 2007, there are 23 beds available 
downtown and only six of those are for women. One organization has 
another 24 beds ready, but can't get government funding for operating costs.

The only way to change Vancouver's drug culture is through treatment. 
That means detox beds, long-term treatment centres located away from 
the DES, long-term social support and instruction in life skills and trades.

The last thing an addict needs is a substitute drug. It's a pathetic, 
callous alternative to implementing the meaningful measures that can 
transform both individuals and the DES into a functioning society. - 
Susan Martinuk is a Vancouver columnist.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman