Pubdate: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Cheryl Rossi ALCOHOL PROGRAM EVALUATORS BACK REGULATED POT CARBC says alcohol is the most harmful of drugs The research centre that advocates minimum prices for alcoholic beverages sold in B.C. also suggests providing users with a regulated supply of marijuana and ecstasy. The Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. is evaluating the Managed Alcohol Program run by PHS Community Services with support from Vancouver Coastal Health at a supportive housing building. MAP started providing eight residents with up to 12 servings of beer, wine or vodka a day last October. Participants are extreme alcoholics who've been abusing alcohol for 30 years and have relapsed after detox. The program is meant to help participants reduce their intake and improve their overall health. CARBC is working on an evaluation of the program for VCH and PHS, and their findings could possibly be shared with those starting similar programs. Tim Stockwell, the research group's director, says the evaluation could be completed in the next two to three months, but he didn't know whether the results would be shared with the public. "These are sensitive issues and there are individuals involved, so we have to be careful," he said. CARBC is considering the physical and mental health of the participants before and during their time in the program, the type and quantity of alcohol consumed, how many times they've visited the emergency room and how having supportive housing may be affecting the program's outcomes. The research centre, which is based at the University of Victoria and has an office in Vancouver, recently reported that minimum prices set by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch for beverages sold in government stores may have helped curb drinking in the province. Stockwell acknowledged that minimum prices-which are lower in B.C. than they are in Saskatchewan and Ontario-may not be favoured by alcoholics who are poor and the service agencies that support them. Some argue alcoholics turn to non-beverage alcohol and products such as Listerine when they can't afford to buy liquor from a store. But Stockwell said minimum pricing can save lives and prevent people from needing hospital care. "There'd be a handful of people who might be more inclined to use non-beverage alcohol, but it's not certain," he said. CARBC calls for increased regulation in some instances and harm reduction approaches in others. "If you look at all the different substances we use on the same page and forget whether they're legal, illegal, regulated, prescribed, and just look at the potential for harm, you would probably develop different responses to each one and, significantly, quite different responses to our current responses," Stockwell said. He said cannabis and ecstasy should be legally available but regulated. "The main problems with a drug like ecstasy is that sometimes it's contaminated with toxic substances," Stockwell said. He added that alcohol is the most ignored of all drugs. "We have such tough regulations and concern and public debate about what to do about illicit drugs when the amount of harm caused by alcohol completely dwarfs that caused by all the other drugs combined. And much of the harm is due to combined effects of alcohol and the illicit drugs, and if the alcohol wasn't there, there wouldn't be an overdose." - --- MAP posted-by: Matt