Pubdate: Thu, 12 Apr 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jayme Poisson

RESIDENTS MIXED ON SUPERVISED INJECTION CLINICS

If Toronto opts to go the way of supervised drug injection sites, the 
logical question is: In whose backyard?

A much-anticipated study released Wednesday recommended three sites 
be set up for addicts to use drugs like heroin in a clean, supervised 
environment. What it did not do was say where.

While experts were equally careful to not offer any suggestions, 
giving the impression they were trying avoid a scenario of angry 
residents with pitchforks, it's clear that some neighbourhoods would 
be more appealing than others.

Jurgen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at the 
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said a site should be close 
to where there's already a lot of injection drug use.

"For example, Parkdale. But not only there," he said, adding that 
drug use in Toronto is more spread out than in other cities, such as 
Vancouver, where it's concentrated in the Downtown Eastside.

While Rehm said he didn't want to single out the gritty west-end 
neighbourhood, that Parkdale is a contender comes as no surprise to most.

"There's a large community of drug users here," said former addict 
Sheryl, 39, who didn't want to give her last name. "I think it would 
probably be one of the more ideal and necessary locations."

Finding a community that will accept a drug injection site is another 
critical factor, said Rehm, adding that in Lucerne, Switzerland, one 
site had to be shuttered after six months because of the uproar.

On Wednesday, Parkdale residents were mixed in their reactions, with 
some offering support for the idea and others, disapproval.

Rob Dee, 52, has lived in the neighbourhood for 50 years. The truck 
driver believes a supervised site is a good idea, even it moves in 
next door. "I've seen more bodies lying in laneways than you can 
imagine," he said, adding it could save lives and prevent disease transmission.

But for Roula Kyrou, it's a different story. "We get dumped with 
everything," she said of Parkdale's reputation for being a hub of 
social services. Just last year, Kyrou tried to get a local methadone 
clinic ousted from her street.

And while she says the methadone clinic isn't as bad as she had 
anticipated, "I've got kids. I don't want people on drugs loitering."

A traditionally working-class neighbourhood (although young 
professionals have been multiplying in recent years), Parkdale is 
home to a plethora of shelters, soup kitchens and low-income housing.

In addition to the methadone clinic, the local community health 
centre runs a weekday needle exchange program. The neighbourhood is 
also home to CAMH and an activity centre that operates a drop-in for 
the mentally ill and homeless.

The area's city councillor, Gord Perks, said Wednesday that setting 
up safe injection sites in the city is "good sound public health policy."

"Parkdale's a special place in that it does have to care for a lot of 
people," said resident Robert Maynard, 41.

But while the filmmaker thinks the community would ultimately accept 
a supervised injection site, he questioned if it would make it too 
depressing, or further segregate it from the rest of the city.

"I think Parkdale will take it, but do we want to give it to 
(Parkdale) because it will take it?"

It's a debate that will surely take place at town halls if the city 
proceeds with the recommendations.

For Dennis Long, executive director of Breakaway Addiction Services, 
which runs the methadone clinic in Parkdale, the bottom line is that 
sites in Toronto are long overdue.

"We lose a number of people in Toronto every year to overdoses as a 
direct result of injecting in places where there's nobody available 
to help them," he said, adding that while deciding where a site could 
go will be tricky, it's also solvable.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom