Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jun 2013
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Vivian Luk
Page: A9
Cited: http://uhri.cfenet.ubc.ca/images/Documents/dsiv2013.pdf

BRAZIL, COLOMBIA LOOK TO COPY VANCOUVER INSITE PROGRAM

Delegates from Colombia and Brazil hope to replicate Vancouver's
innovative approach to harm reduction around illegal drug use even as
the Canadian government aims to impose stricter rules for supervised
injection sites.

Representatives of Viva Rio, a non profit organization in Rio de
Janeiro, and a government official from Colombia visited Insite,
Vancouver's safe injection site, on Tuesday, saying they're looking
for a way to lower the impact of drug use in their countries.

Ines Mejia, an adviser to Colombia's public health ministry, said
marijuana and cocaine are the most prevalent drugs in the country,
particularly in cities such as Medellin and Bogota.

However, she said the country is witnessing a rise in heroin
consumption, and there are few resources available to respond to the
drug use. Mejia said she hopes to sell the Vancouver model of needle-
exchange programs to her government when she gets home.

"The money that is allotted to drugs is more than anything used in
supplies for fighting the drug lords, the illicit plantations," she
said through an interpreter. "The internal use of drugs in our country
is just starting to be identified."

The visit comes following new federal legislation tabled earlier this
month that would require a list of conditions to be met before new
Canadian facilities can be allowed to open.

The conditions listed in Bill C- 65 include requiring applicants of
drug injection sites to consult with community, provincial and
municipal authorities, as well as law enforcement, before they can be
granted an exemption that allows for illegal drugs to be used for
medical and scientific purposes and for activities that are in the
public interest.

The bill didn't pass before Parliament recessed for
summer.

Liz Evans, executive director of the Portland Hotel Society, which
co-manages Insite, said many countries have expressed an interest in
the supervised injection facility since it opened in 2003. Just weeks
ago, the deputy mayor of Rio de Janeiro visited the facility in
preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup next
year.

"It's sort of shocking that in our own country, the acknowledgment
isn't there that this is actually saving lives and improving the
health of the community in a very effective way," Evans said. No one
from the federal Ministry of Health responded to a request for an
interview on the subject.

Earlier this week, a report by the B. C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/
AIDS said that Vancouver's approach to illicit drug use is effective
because the number of people reported sharing needles dropped
dramatically between 1996 and 2011.
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MAP posted-by: Matt