Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jul 2014
Source: Mission City Record (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 The Mission City Record
Contact:  http://www.missioncityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1305
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

LIFT THE NEEDLE EXCHANGE BAN

Drug users shouldn't be given clean needles. It only encourages them, you see.

It's that kind of misguided, short-sighted thinking that leads to 
bans on needle exchanges and other harm reduction measures in communities.

Abbotsford went down that ill-advised road in 2005. In 2010, the 
Fraser Health Authority (FHA) urged the city to reconsider, citing 
among its concerns Abbotsford's hepatitis C infection rate, which was 
higher than regional, provincial and national averages. Earlier this 
year, Abbotsford council did the right thing and rescinded the bylaw.

Mission council is similarly reconsidering its own ban on needle 
exchanges. It shouldn't be a difficult decision.

The bylaw didn't push drug users out of town. It's naive to believe 
it would. And it certainly didn't help anyone.

In fact, drug overdose rates in Mission are two times higher than the 
provincial average, according to statistics from Fraser Health, which 
wants to increase and streamline harm reduction services.

As in Abbotsford, clean needles have been distributed to drug users 
in Mission despite the ban, while city authorities in both 
communities have looked the other way.

Someone who is in the steel grip of addiction, which has already torn 
away family, relationships, career, a home, self-respect, and 
eventually life itself, is not set on the road to recovery by the 
absence of clean needles.

It takes a great deal more than that to motivate someone to make the 
decision to become drug-free - and stay that way.

So why provide clean needles and crack pipes? It helps to prevent 
disease spread by shared use of the rigs. If that conjures no sense 
of human conscience or compassion, then focus on the fact it saves 
public money.

Sharing drug paraphernalia is a fast-track to a host of health 
problems such as infection and disease, the most common being HIV and 
hepatitis C.

When drug addicts become sick, they go to the same hospitals as 
everyone else. And we all pay for their medical care.

Yes, drug users need more than just clean needles to deal with their 
addictions and achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Provision of harm reduction measures is the first step in that 
direction for a contemporary, forward-thinking community.

With the exception of one member, Mission council is on the right track.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom