Pubdate: Wed, 08 Feb 2012
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2012 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
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

CITY OPPOSES DOWNTOWN INJECTION SITES

Tremblay Finds Idea Unacceptable

The city of Montreal has aligned itself with downtown residents 
opposed to locating a supervised injection site at a local needle 
exchange, reiterating its position that such a facility should be 
established in an existing medical facility like a hospital or CLSC.

"What people are saying is that they don't want a (SIS) at Cactus," 
Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay told reporters on Tuesday, referring 
to a Sanguinet St. community centre and needle exchange that has been 
cited as a possible site for a SIS.

"We forwarded a pile of documents to the (health) minister ... saying 
that it would not be acceptable.

"If the government wants to establish SIS, they should do so in 
public-health facilities," Tremblay said. "We don't want them 
concentrated downtown. we're ready to face the reality, but not in an 
area where certain government officials want them located."

Tremblay said the Hopital Ste. Jeanne D'arc and the Centre Dollard 
Cormier, a rehabilitation centre for addicts, are two possible homes for SIS.

Louis Letellier, president of Cactus, criticized the mayor for 
"taking a politician's viewpoint" on the issue.

"This is unbelievable," Letellier said, insisting that the vast 
majority of drug users won't use a government run health care 
facility. "These people will still knock on the same doors. People 
will still come to us for clean needles."

A coalition of local residents' groups is concerned about a 
recommendation made last December that the downtown borough be home 
to one of three SIS to serve the Montreal area, along with a mobile 
SIS that could be deployed where needed.

The recommendations were contained in a report prepared by Montreal's 
public health department in an effort to stem the number of overdose 
deaths and the spread of HIV and hepatitis C caused by shared or 
reused syringes.

The coalition has called upon provincial health authorities to set up 
SIS in all regions of Quebec to reduce the number of out of town 
addicts who are already being referred to social service centres in 
downtown Montreal.

Cactus - the site of a free needle exchange since 1989 - has been 
identified as a likely location for a SIS. The community centre has 
prepared plans that would see six cubicles used to provide as many as 
100 nurse-supervised injections a day.

In an earlier interview, Cactus spokesperson Jean-francois Mary said 
opposition to SIS lessened once the manner in which the centres 
operate was explained.

He also questioned the city's stand on locating SIS in medical 
facilities, noting that more than 90 per cent of intravenous addicts 
do not use the medical system.

The number of intravenous drug users in Montreal has been estimated 
between 15,000 and 25,000.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom