Pubdate: Wed, 25 Nov 2015
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Kelly Egan
Page: A2

AS PROSPECTS BRIGHTEN FOR DRUG INJECTION SITE, PREPARE FOR DEBATE

Remember the snarky debate about a safe drug-injection site in
Ottawa?

Well, because it's 2015, because of sunny ways, because a new,
shaggy-haired sheriff 's in town, expect to hear more sound and fury
on the issue, and real soon.

It was the one topic that spontaneously drew applause at the 12th
annual community forum sponsored by the Alliance to End Homelessness
Ottawa on Tuesday at the RA Centre.

While the Conservative government of Stephen Harper hated the idea and
wanted to shut Canada's only such site in Vancouver, the Liberals are
more welcoming.

"With the new Liberal government, there is definitely an appetite to
look at it," said Rob Boyd, director of Oasis, a drug treatment
program run from the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre.

"We're a lot more optimistic at this point that this is something that
can happen."

Boyd has spent some 25 years treating the drug addicted and is one of
city's most respected voices in the field. There is a plan to
establish the site at Oasis, tied in with other services (methadone
clinic, needle exchange, HIV care), but the application wasn't brought
forward because of the hostile regulatory climate.

The Conservatives went so far as to pass Bill C-2 in March, which set
up a rigorous set of conditions, effectively blocking the creation of
any more safe injection sites in Canada. Boyd said advocates are
hoping the bill will be amended or repealed.

The optimism is not misplaced. During the election campaign, Liberal
leader Justin Trudeau supported the opening of just such a site in
Montreal.

Boyd said he expects the proposal will get a community airing in 2016.
Though both the mayor and police chief oppose the idea in principle,
he hopes a proper explanation will help to persuade them of the health
benefits and cost savings.

"I would like to have the opportunity to present the model we're
looking at. I'm not sure it's well understood because we haven't
articulated it very well yet."

There is ample evidence that Vancouver's safe injection site has
prevented overdoses, curtailed the spread of infectious diseases, and
steered addicts into treatment. And the Supreme Court of Canada
supported its existence. But it has always been contentious because
some see it as the government enabling drug addiction and turning a
blind eye to criminal activity.

The forum was fascinating for its snapshot on the health of the
homeless and the city's drug scene, the two often intermingled.

Every year in Ottawa, about 50 users die of a drug overdose, and
paramedics respond to roughly three calls of suspected overdose every
day. It is a fluid situation. Counsellors have noticed lately, for
instance, that opioid users are turning to a powdered form of
fentanyl, sometimes with disastrous effects.

Boyd said the fentanyl is mixed with other drugs, like heroin, in such
a way that the user doesn't know the potency of the product. (In
August, Vancouver had 16 overdoses in one day from a set of street
pills thought to be spiked with fentanyl, which can be 50 times more
potent than morphine.)

He estimated there are between 1,500 and 2,000 intravenous drugs users
in Ottawa and presented the crowd of about 150 people with a chart
that showed overdose deaths in Ontario have soared from 91 in 2000 to
513 in 2013.

"We are definitely in the midst of an overdose crisis in the province
of Ontario."

There was already a signal that the road to a safe injection site in
Ottawa will not be a smooth one. The city's medical officer of health,
Dr. Isra Levy, attended the forum. His department has taken a neutral
position on the issue, "monitoring" the public discussion about safe
sites.

"The safe consumption site concept, for me, is a distraction from the
larger discussion," he told the Citizen during a break. "I think we
need comprehensive services."

The morning featured a presentation from Dr. Travis Baggett, a
physician and researcher who works with the homeless in Boston. One
piece of research involved looking at mortality and disease rates
among 28,000 patients between 2003 to 2008.

It found that tobacco and alcohol were responsible for a great deal of
mortality, much higher, depending on the age group, than drug addiction.

In fact, if street people live into their 50s, smoking and booze will
likely kill them before drug use does.

And, traditionally, smoking has been viewed as "the least" of their
problems - cigarettes even being handed out to street people in the
old days as "carrots" to treatment. Yet, as their drug addictions are
brought under control, it is the cancers from tobacco and alcohol that
may well kill street-involved people.

Many drug programs today, however, include smoking cessation.
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MAP posted-by: Matt