Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jul 2013
Source: Ottawa 24 Hours (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Sun Media Corporation
Contact:  http://24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5053
Author: Danielle Bell

RESEARCH TEAM SURVEYING DRUG USERS

A research team has quietly taken to the streets to survey Ottawa drug users.

It's part of an effort, by Participatory Research in Ottawa 
Understanding Drugs, to create a profile of the situation in the capital.

Volunteers are reaching out to hard drug users in the most vulnerable 
situations, many of whom regularly use IV drugs.

Over the last several months, they have interviewed more than 400 
addicts on a range of topics, including drug use, homelessness, 
education and supervised injection sites.

"We want to do it because people are dying," said Richard Sproule, a 
group member.

"A lot of the people are in very dangerous situations."

The group hopes to interview as many as 1,500 drug users in their 
first initiative of its kind. They hope the hands-on research project 
will paint an accurate portrayal of the situation in the city, which 
they say is likely underestimated. Participants are also offered 
rapid HIV testing.

The specially-designed questionnaire was developed with the help of 
recovering addicts themselves.

The data, which will take months more to collect, will then be 
analyzed and brought to the attention of medical health officials.

"Ottawa has really lagged behind in harm reduction," said Sproule, a 
recovering addict.

"We're fighting against that."

Each drug user surveyed is paid a $20 honorarium for two hours of their time.

It means the organizers have paid out about $8,000 so far.

Early data suggests the majority (81%) of participants think there 
should be a supervised injection site in Ottawa, with 68% of those 
who've injected in the past year saying they would turn to one.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom