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."
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MAP posted-by: Matt