Pubdate: Thu, 09 Feb 2012
Source: Ubyssey (CN BC Edu)
Contact:  http://www.ubyssey.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/706
Author: Grace Qiao

FIX: THE STORY OF AN ADDICTED CITY, A DECADE LATER 

"[Michael] Ondaatje once called me Canada's most famous
addict."

Dean Wilson shared this anecdote with students in the Norm Theatre on
Tuesday evening after Cinema Politica's screening of FIX: The Story of
an Addicted City. Wilson, the ex-president of the Vancouver Area
Network of Drug Users (VANDU), is a central figure in Nettie Wild's
2002 Canadian documentary.

"After that, I called up my mother and said, 'Hey! Look, something
became of me!'" Wilson joked.

After 33 years of battling addiction, Wilson has proudly maintained
two years of sobriety at the age of 49.

Humorous, knowledgeable and very articulate, he spoke about the film
that documents his and others' arduous journey to bring a safe drug
consumption site to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside -- all while
battling his own addiction with heroin and struggling with the daily
dealings of death on his city blocks.

The camera follows Dean Wilson and his love interest, VANDU's
passionate and spiritual sober organizer, Ann Livingston, as they lead
street addicts in demanding from the city proper attention to
Vancouver's most sick and vulnerable.

The film ends with the unanimous (although somewhat reluctant) passing
of the Four Pillar Approach action plan by city councillors in 2001.
After Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen's championing of this approach,
which included harm reduction strategies, Insite was opened in 2003 as
North America's first -- and highly controversial -- legal safe
injection site.

"I really respect Philip," Wilson said. "At one point, he was really
against us; once he figured things out, he changed his mind and that
cost him dearly, personally and politically. For a politician to admit
wrong is a big thing.

"[Philip] really is a decent man. I can't think of a higher accolade
to give someone."

Nevertheless, Wilson said that today, the battle is not yet won. The
gritty depiction of life on the streets in Wild's 2002 film is a
reality that is both steadfast and dynamically changing. The streets
are cleaner and overdose deaths have dropped significantly, but the
people are still sick with addiction.

"What's happening on the ground right now is most people smoke rock
rather than inject cocaine [which has recently become more popular on
the streets]." Wilson's next goal is to outfit Vancouver with a safe
inhalation site, stating that the harm reduction model should be more
inclusive. In fact, Insite was built with ventilation equipment for a
supervised inhalation room, but all proposals of opening the service
have been rejected.

"We may not be dying of HIV or overdose, but what aren't we dying of?"
Wilson asked. "I use [the film] as a tool to engage people who don't
think the way I think." After touring for the movie and attending
several other speaking gigs, Wilson rarely does public talks anymore.
But he makes exceptions for students.

"I want young people to have all the information to make a rational
decision," said Wilson, "and I don't care whether they support me or
not, I just want them to have all the facts."
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.