Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jan 2017
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Jen St. Denis

FRONTLINE WORKERS PAN FUNDS DECISION

Vancouver acts but Downtown eastside community opposes overdose funds
for new policing

Vancouver council has approved $2.1 million in spending to fight the
city's deadly overdose crisis, including a controversial $208,000 to
create a community policing centre in Strathcona.

Drug users and their advocates vociferously opposed the funds going
toward the new community policing centre. They said more policing is
not an appropriate response to a public health crisis and suggested
the money would be better spent supporting groups like the Vancouver
Area Network of Drug Users and Portland Hotel Society in opening more
overdose prevention sites and doing peer-to-peer outreach to encourage
drug users to come inside or out of their isolated SRO hotel rooms.

"Police are not trusted by the community in the Downtown Eastside,"
said Matthew Kargis, who has volunteered for several months at an
overdose prevention site.

"People trained as medical first responders, people with medical
skills in addiction medicine, mental-health workers, frontline
organizations like VANDU … these are the people who prevent overdoses."

Doug King, a lawyer with Pivot Legal, pointed out that an extra
property tax increase had been levied specifically to raise $3.5
million to address the deadly health crisis, which killed 219
Vancouver residents in 2016.

"In our opinion, community policing has virtually no connection to
overdose prevention and it has no connection to harm reduction," he
said.

The Strathcona Residents' Association and Strathcona Business
Improvement Area spoke in support of the community policing centre,
saying discarded needles and property crime are an increasing problem
in the neighbourhood.
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MAP posted-by: Matt