Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 2015
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Page: B8

HARPER'S DRUG STRATEGIES WON'T WIN IN VANCOUVER

The City of Vancouver is showing itself to be a trailblazer, leading
the way for other Canadian cities grappling with controversial social
challenges. The city, having recently moved to regulate cannabis
dispensaries and, a dozen years ago, opening North America's first
legal supervised injection drug site, has created templates for other
municipalities that now want to deploy harm-reduction strategies to
deal with the scourge of drugs.

Such strategies are not borne of defiance against federal drug
policies but rather a pursuit of pragmatism, to ensure if drug use was
going to continue - as it surely was - its harmful effects would be
mitigated and remediated.

The focus in regulating marijuana dispensaries is on ensuring these
outlets - which number close to 100 - do not situate themselves near
schools or community centres. Another aim is to give the city
necessary funds, through dispensary licensing fees, to provide
appropriate oversight.

Victoria, with 19 dispensaries and compassion clubs, says it will look
to the Vancouver model as it prepares to introduce its regulatory
system in September.

Vancouver's launching of Insite in the Downtown Eastside in 2003 was
based on a desire to reduce the number of back-alley deaths resulting
from drug overdoses. The facility receives more than 700 visits a day
from drug users and 2009 records show nearly 500 overdoses occurred
that year with no deaths, thanks to the intervention of Insite staff.

Montreal now is planning for four supervised injection sites to be
operating by fall, regardless of whether the federal government grants
the city a special Health Canada exemption that would make the
operation legal.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says he is not prepared to delay the
initiative, because it is urgent. About 25 drug users died of
overdoses in the city in 2014.

It appears cities increasingly want to treat these issues as health
problems, which fall under provincial jurisdiction, while Stephen
Harper's Conservative government continues to view them from a
criminal justice perspective.

Vancouver has faced repeated legal challenges and warnings from
Ottawa. But, to its credit, the city has determinedly pursued its
course, gaining local community approval for its actions along the
way. These days Vancouver is being cited as a model for similar action
by other municipalities.

The governing party has used the debate to highlight political
differences with its partisan opponents. The Harper team has
characterized the regulation of cannabis dispensaries and operation of
Insite as challenges to federal law. They are attempting to demonize
the Liberals, who advocate a liberalization of pot laws, and playing
to the Conservative party's law-and-order base.

None of that is likely to help Conservatives win new votes in
Vancouver in a fall election.
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MAP posted-by: Matt