Pubdate: Sat, 17 Dec 2011 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: James Mennie, The Gazette INJECTION SITES GIVEN GREEN LIGHT Downtown Residents Want Moratorium in Ville Marie A coalition of downtown residents associations is calling for an immediate moratorium on any attempt to introduce supervised injection sites (SIS) in their neighbourhood, saying the borough of Ville Marie is already overburdened with the problems of homelessness and local crime. "What we're saying is that we are not against (SIS)," said Gaetan Paquet, president of the Coalition des Associations de residents de Ville-Marie, which represents about 45,000 of the 80,000 residents of the downtown borough. "But in the report there's no criteria for locating them, there are no measures to reduce the impact of their being introduced in this area. "It won't even happen in a hospital; it will happen in a community centre. - What we think is that the Quebec government should establish (SIS) everywhere (in Quebec). - We don't want them only to be here." Paquet's comments follow the unveiling on Friday of a series of recommendations by Montreal's public health department that SIS be established in Montreal. The proposed sites, which health officials contend reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C and lower the number of overdose deaths, would be staffed by medical personnel and set up at fixed locations in three of four health department administrative districts in the city identified as possible candidates for the sites. One district covers Verdun and environs, another the west end of Montreal, the third much of downtown and the last the city's east end, including Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The report calls for the creation of a mobile SIS able to reach areas not served by the other sites. The number of intravenous drug users in Montreal has been estimated at 15,000 to 25,000. Paquet said the city's downtown residents are already trying to deal with homelessness and crime in their neighbourhood. He said social services for itinerants and those suffering from psychiatric problems are concentrated in the area, so Ville Marie already is a centre of gravity for individuals - even from outside of Montreal - seeking help. "If the Health Ministry goes ahead with SIS, it has to be everywhere, across Quebec," he said. "If it's just here, we'll have people coming here from Rimouski." The report recommends that sites be located in medical establishments and community centres, but Lise Chabot, a spokesperson for the public health office, said community centres already offering needle exchange programs would probably form the majority of sites. That approach is at odds with the position taken by the city of Montreal, which favours the creation of more than one site but would prefer those sites be in hospitals or CLSCs. On Friday, Jocelyn Ann Campbell, Montreal executive-committee member responsible for social and community development and a city councillor of Ville Marie, repeated that position. "This should be carried out within the health network," she said. "It is a medical act that must be carried out in a medical facility for everyone's safety." Campbell urged the province not to deal with the downtown borough's problems "in isolation," noting that any SIS in the area should be supported by programs that deal with homelessness and a lack of psychiatric beds in the city. Friday's report is the result of months of meetings with the city of Montreal, local police and community organizations to reduce the growing risks faced by local drug users, many of whom are homeless. In October, Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced the province would work with community groups in Montreal and Quebec City to establish services for drug abusers. That announcement followed a Supreme Court decision in September that the federal government's attempt to shut down Vancouver's Insite clinic - North America's only nurse-supervised injection site - violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.