Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor Website: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Norman Inkster Page: 10 RIGHT MOVE - BUT WON'T SOLVE PROBLEM During my 37 years in the RCMP - and particularly during the last seven years as commissioner - I became acutely aware of the intractability of the illicit drug problem. The importation, sale and use of illicit drugs is complex and there is no easy solution to its elimination. We've tried for years, with little success and we will, and should, keep trying. Sadly, only limited progress has been made in the prohibition of illicit drugs entering our country despite the best efforts of law enforcement. One of the challenges is that illicit drug importation and use is one in which the importer and the user are complicit. I have heard it said that illicit drug use is a crime without a victim and perhaps there is some accuracy in that statement. The reality is, however, that there are innocent victims for whom risk can be reduced by supervised injection services. But we can also reduce the potential and real harm to those who accidentally come into contact with used, discarded needles often found in parks, restaurant washrooms, back alleys and parks. We can reduce the harm to innocent adults and children if we can control, reduce and eventually eliminate discarded needles in the public places our children and grandchildren enjoy. Harm reduction can be achieved through the establishment of supervised injection services operating under the watchful eye of trained health professionals. The Vancouver Police Department learned that when it was confronted with the establishment of Insite, a supervised injection site in that city's Downtown Eastside 14 years ago. That facility was based on the idea of harm reduction: If there was no other good way of responding to something bad that was happening, then the best one could do was to try to reduce the amount of harm to others. A supervised injection service allows the drug user to inject in a safe environment. They can do it in a way to reduce infection, and to ensure they don't pass on disease by sharing needles. If an overdose occurs, health professionals step in to prevent an unnecessary death. Used needles are not left to potentially harm others. And drug users can have important conversations with professionals who can help them deal with their addictions. And maybe, just maybe, help the willing rid themselves of their addiction. Evidence suggests that Insite met these goals, and has improved conditions in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Insite didn't end intravenous drug use but made life better for those who have fallen prey to addiction. Crime didn't increase, in fact it went down - albeit, marginally. Vancouver police officers have co-operated with the facility and changed their practices. I expect the same positive results if the federal government approves the applications to open supervised injection sites in Toronto. More than 200 individuals die each year in Toronto from drug overdoses. Saving a few - or many - of those lives would be a positive outcome. And maybe this experiment will tell us how we can better help those who use drugs. Intravenous drug use presents difficult challenges. It costs lives, a great deal of money, and compromises public safety. Supervised injection services reduce disorder and keep needles out of public places. Vancouver isn't the only city now offering such a service: There are almost 100 other cities, many in Europe, which also offer such facilities, with similar positive results. Drug users are, at the end of the day, people - people with families and loved ones who want them to be well and engaged in a productive lifestyle. Drug users have taken some wrong turns and have become sick. With our support, they might be able to turn their lives around. Safe injection sites will provide the opportunity for them to confront that possibility. The establishment of safe injection services is the right step forward for Toronto. (Norman Inkster, former RCMP commissioner and former president INTERPOL) - --- MAP posted-by: Matt