Pubdate: Fri, 22 Aug 2014
Source: Mission City Record (CN BC)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2014 The Mission City Record
Contact:  http://www.missioncityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1305
Author: Carol Aun

VIEWS AIRED ON HARM REDUCTION

Opinions Differ At Public Hearing On Needle Exchange
Facilities

Harm reduction helped save Erica Thomson's life. The people who
reached out to her made her feel worthy and that she was not
disposable. Methadone helped get her off drugs, and as long as she was
on it, she was permitted to keep her daughter in her care.

Today, Thomson is drug-free and works as an outreach worker for the
Women's Resource Society of the Fraser Valley (WRSFV).

Katie, who didn't provide her last name, is a recovering drug addict
who cleaned up with abstinence and the 12-step program. She has a
13-year-old son with fetal alcohol syndrome to think about and no
matter what, she doesn't take up dope.

The ways a person can recover from addiction are as vast and personal
as the opinions on how to become drug free.

Mission council heard varying viewpoints Monday during a public
hearing on proposed amendments to a zoning bylaw to allow methadone
treatment clinics and related facilities, including needle exchange
programs, in the district.

A current bylaw prohibits needle exchange facilities in Mission, but
council is considering lifting the five-year ban to support harm
reduction strategies and to help protect the community's vulnerable
residents.

Mission's director of planning, Mike Younie, noted the district has
not received any application for a standalone treatment clinic, like
methadone, and any such proposed business would have to go through a
separate process and public hearing.

Needle exchange programs are not land use issues, said Younie, adding
health services are regulated by the province and district bylaws
cannot supersede a provincial act.

"It seems to me the most successful way for people to stop using drugs
is to cut them off, not provide methadone, which is addictive," said
former Mission mayor and MLA Randy Hawes, whose own son recovered from
addiction through a long-term supportive abstinence program.

"Methadone is funded by Pharmacare and doesn't cost Fraser Health
anything."

Hawes said he couldn't get funding for abstinence-based programs as an
MLA, but encouraged Mission council to pressure the health authority
to recognize and fund other modalities, including abstinence, in
addition to harm reduction.

"I don't disagree that for some, methadone is the right treatment, but
for others, it's not."

Greg Blaine, an addiction counsellor at Harvest Discovery Home, told
council to stay strong on the prohibition.

"I'm not against methadone, I'm against how it's distributed," said
Blaine, explaining not all physicians are trained to treat addiction.
"We've turned it into a money-making product. I'm not against clean
needles, I'm against how it's distributed."

People don't need to return old needles to get a new one and
distributors don't keep a log on who's using the service, Blaine explained.

"Clean needles kill people too," said Blaine. "Harm is
harm."

Katie suggested the district reach out to recovering addicts and ask
what helped get them clean.

"Harm reduction is recommended to you from Fraser Health as a
necessary health service," said Dr. Victoria Lee, a medical health
officer with Fraser Health. "The evidence is clear. It reduces the
risk of contracting diseases like Hepatitis C, and links people to
services."

Fraser Health, Lee continued, supports all forms of harm reduction
services, including detox and abstinence.

Intensive residential treatment beds in Abbotsford and Maple Ridge are
abstinence-based, said Fraser Health spokesperson Erin Labbe, noting
treatment plans are different from person to person and some people
who enter the facility may not be ready to abstain.

"Harm reduction is how we work with people who are not ready to
abstain," said Labbe.

Drug overdose rates in Mission are two times higher than the
provincial average, according to Fraser Health statistics.

"You need clean needles to reduce the risk to the public and the
users," added Lee, who suggested how the needles are disposed of can
be another project for the Mission's Health Community Council (MHCC).

Currently, Fraser Health offers a needle exchange at the Mission
Health Unit, and the Mission Friendship Centre (MFC) also runs one
with funding from the BC Centre for Disease and Control.

Pharmacies that fill methadone prescriptions or any other opioid
substitution therapies also have a supply of needles as regulated by
the provincial Health Act.

There are also mobile vehicles coming into the community to provide
the service as well, but Fraser Health doesn't have control over these
operations.

MHCC developed the proposed harm reduction strategy with input from
numerous organizations, including Fraser House, MFC and WRSFV.

Mission council will take a month to contemplate the information
presented before considering approving third reading of the proposed
bylaw amendment.

"I want more discussion about this while it's on the burner," said
Coun. Tony Luck.

Mayor Ted Adlem and Coun. Larry Nundal opposed the delay. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D