Pubdate: Sat, 02 Apr 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Duffy
Page: B1

A SAFE INJECTION SITE DEBATE PRIMER

The upcoming debate about a safe injection site in Ottawa promises to
raise some difficult questions.

Does such a facility enable the use of injection drugs? Does
government support for one confer tacit approval of illegal drug use?
Can inaction be justified when so many lives are at risk? When so many
scientific studies show that this brand of harm reduction works?

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre begins on Monday a month-long
consultation process - a first step towards its goal of opening a
small-scale, safe injection site next spring.

Mayor Jim Watson has previously opposed efforts to bring a safe
injection site to Ottawa by arguing that limited tax dollars are
better spent on drug treatment centres.

Police leaders have said that such a site would increase trafficking
and the crime that often finances drug purchases.

Advocates contend the safe injection site is a necessary response to a
public health crisis, and can reduce the health costs associated with
reckless drug use. (A Canadian AIDS Society report estimated that an
individual diagnosed with HIV today would cost the health care system
about $250,000 during a lifetime of treatment.)

Vancouver opened North America's first government-sanctioned
supervised injection site, Insite, in September 2003 in response to a
sharp rise in local overdose fatalities and HIV infection rates. It
has been the subject of controversy and intense study ever since.

Former Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement once called the
facility "a failure of ethical judgment," but his government's attempt
to close Insite was rejected by the Supreme Court.

"The experiment has proven successful," the high court concluded in
its 2011 decision. "Insite has saved lives and improved health without
increasing the incidence of drug use and crime in the surrounding area."

Studies show that Insite has reduced local overdose deaths by more
than one-third, while increasing the number of users going to
addiction treatment. More than 400 drug overdoses have been
successfully treated at the facility.
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MAP posted-by: Matt