Dr. Don Ling Tells Mlas 60 Per Cent of Those on Program End Up Leading Productive Lives The medical director of the methadone program says the program should be expanded due to high levels of success among patients struggling with opiate addictions. Dr. Don Ling told the Standing Committee on Health and Social Development Tuesday 60 per cent of those on the methadone program end up drug-free and back in the workforce, leading productive lives. "Lives that are in the dumpster all of a sudden are back in a productive way, kids back in mother's care, people back to work or school, it's just powerful stuff," Ling told the MLAs on the committee. "It's very encouraging." Ling appeared before the committee as part of its ongoing consultations regarding the alarming number of Islanders becoming addicted to prescription pills. [continues 495 words]
It is understandable that some people in central Kitchener are alarmed by the news that a third methadone clinic will open its doors on King Street East this summer. These clinics treat drug addicts, and for many people such addicts are synonymous with trouble and even crime. It is understandable, too, that the city politicians who represent these residents and business people want to help them. After all, one small area of Kitchener is being told to shoulder a burden no other part of Waterloo Region must accept. To many people, this smacks of unfairness. [continues 621 words]
A NEW REPORT on Vancouver's drug problem highlights the success of harm-reduction strategies and related approaches while suggesting tougher policing has not been effective. The report, released today (June 24) by the Urban Health Initiative at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, is based on illicit drug-use data collected over a 15-year period. "The objective of this report is to make data accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders and to directly inform the City of Vancouver's Four Pillars Drug Strategy, the Province of British Columbia's response to illicit drug use, and the Canadian federal government's National Anti-Drug Strategy," the report says. [continues 236 words]
VANCOUVER - Harm reduction - not a war on drugs - has reduced illicit drug use and improved public safety in what was once Ground Zero for an HIV and overdose epidemic that cost many lives, says a 15-year study of drug use in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside. The report by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS found that from 1996 to 2011, fewer people were using drugs and, of those who were, fewer were injecting drugs, said Dr. Thomas Kerr, co-author of the report and co-director of the centre's Urban Health Research Initiative. [continues 664 words]
VANCOUVER - Harm reduction - not a war on drugs - has reduced illicit drug use and improved public safety in what was once ground zero for an HIV and overdose epidemic that cost many lives, says a 15-year study of drug use in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside. The report by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/ AIDS found that from 1996 to 2011, fewer people were using drugs and, of those who were, fewer were injecting drugs, said Dr. Thomas Kerr, co-author of the report and co-director of the centre's Urban Health Research Initiative. [continues 361 words]
VANCOUVER - Harm reduction - not a war on drugs - has reduced illicit drug use and improved public safety in what was once Ground Zero for an HIV and overdose epidemic that cost many lives, says a 15-year study of drug use in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside. The report by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS found that from 1996 to 2011, fewer people were using drugs and, of those who were, fewer were injecting drugs, said Dr. Thomas Kerr, co-author of the report and co-director of the centre's Urban Health Research Initiative. [continues 337 words]
Kitchener Council Calls for Restrictions on Number of Clinics Allowed in One Area KITCHENER - As a third methadone clinic preparers to open on King Street East, city councillors made a symbolic show of support Monday night for a couple of business owners who are upset about it. "I don't think this resolution is going to do anything," Coun. Zyg Janecki said of the motion that was tabled by Coun. Daniel Glenn-Graham. Graham's motion calls on the operators of methadone clinics to voluntarily keep their operations at least three kilometres from each other in the future. [continues 364 words]
GUELPH - A local addiction/harm reduction organization is prodding the province to get moving on its plan to distribute the drug naloxone to drug addicts. The drug reverses an overdose of opioids for about 45 minutes thus having the potential to save lives. The Ministry of Health announced in April 2012 it would cover the cost of naloxone and worked a temporary arrangement with the Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program to distribute the drug to physicians and other health professionals in communities across the province. [continues 519 words]
Oshawa's member of parliament wouldn't support a safe injection site in Oshawa, and he says wouldn't even call them "safe" in the first place. "There's nothing safe about putting illegal street heroin into your arm," says MP Colin Carrie. "The term 'safe,' we should really be careful when we use that." To that end, the federal government is taking strides to make setting up "supervised drug consumption sites" a more difficult task. They do so as residents of some cities express interest in hosting new safe injection sites, and with Oshawa sporting a "significant amount" of needle drug users. [continues 865 words]
The rate of success is poor, the nature of the work often frustrating and the paperwork required under new rules is daunting. But the reward is the amazing transformation of those who are helped by methadone, says Dr. Jeff White, who has been administering the program as part of his family practice for several years. Methadone -- which reduces drug cravings and opiate withdrawal while blocking euphoria -- is used to treat addiction to opiates like OxyContin. Doctors who administer methadone maintenance therapy must obtain a special exemption. There are only a handful who provide the service in the St. John's area. [continues 934 words]
Methamphetamine and marijuana continue to be a problem in Butte County, but an increase in heroin is becoming a concern. According to the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force 2012 report released Tuesday, there were 243 arrests made, with most - 219 - being drug-related. Chico saw the most arrests - 93, according to the report. Sixty arrests were categorized as happening in Butte County; Oroville had 45 arrests and Gridley had 26. Paradise, Biggs and Magalia had 7, 3 and 1, respectively. Last year saw an increase in heroin seizures - more than 78 grams, said Jeff Smith, task force commander for the Department of Justice. People using opiate prescription pills are turning to heroin, which is less expensive and more available. [continues 799 words]
New rules drafted by the Harper government for establishing supervised injection sites for drug addicts could make it more difficult for Vancouver's InSite to be replicated elsewhere in Canada. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who expressed disappointment in 2011 when the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the government to stop interfering with the controversial clinic, will table a bill in the House of Commons on Thursday that clarifies how supervised-injection sites can be created. It is expected to focus heavily on the need to consult members of the community and respect their values and voices. That means any opposition could make it difficult for proponents of a supervised-injection site to move forward. [continues 469 words]
Wollongong City Council has played down claims that drug dealing is worsening in Crown Street Mall, despite terrified retailers revealing they are increasingly the target of abuse and threats from criminals. The council's economic development manager Mark Grimson yesterday denied any rise in drug trade in the shopping hub, saying mall security guards, employed by the council, had not noticed any increase. He admitted new seating had created a "concentration" of people gathering in the lower mall but said security would monitor the area. [continues 385 words]
Take aim at Abbotsford's anti-harm reduction bylaw A Vancouver legal advocacy group is backing a lawsuit by drug users against the city of Abbotsford around its anti-harm reduction bylaw. Pivot Legal Society held a rally at Abbotsford city hall Tuesday afternoon to announce it's helping three injection drug users and the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors file a human rights complaint and a civil lawsuit against the municipality in provincial Supreme Court. Pivot lawyer Scott Bernstein said legal proceedings would go forward despite Abbotsford city council's recent decision to amend the controversial 2005 bylaw banning harm reduction services. [continues 605 words]
I have a story that might, these days, evoke a small bubble of annoyance, a tiny percussion of pique at the callousness of public officials. The word "compassionate" is being bandied about with great vigor in New Jersey. The state passed its Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. Well, it wasn't just passed. It was passed in 2010. We're just now getting around to actualizing our compassion. Well, some of it. This law compassionately charges cannabis patients $200 in advance to register in order to become eligible to buy cannabis from the state. Non-ambulatory patients - the homebound - who must authorize someone to make purchases on their behalf are shown even more compassion with an additional $265 fee to register and background-check an agent. This cost, compassionately, recurs every two years. By the way, the law is not this "compassionate" with other prescription medical treatments like oxycodone and methadone. [continues 517 words]
A groundbreaking 'consumption room' keeps drugs off the streets, with staff on hand to help victims. The next may open in Brighton 'We can't change people. People can change themselves, and we can be there when they want to' Ivan Christensen, drug worker Maja Petersen, 38, a prostitute, could not wait a moment longer for her fix. She had made her way to Copenhagen's drug consumption room, hoping to inject there, away from public view and within sight of its nurses. But the room a place where addicts can use class A drugs free of fear of prosecution doesn't open its doors to the city's 8,000 addicts until 8.30am. [continues 1324 words]
Dear Editor, Provincial Health Officer Perry Kendall's overall tone [Harm reduction one route of many, April 2 Letters, TIMES] infers that we are making great progress in addictions treatment, and that we should somehow celebrate an increase in those on methadone from 8,000 to 14,000 over the past eight years. Far from making any progress, I believe we have an addictions crisis in B.C., and the huge increase in methadone users should be a sign of failure. [continues 481 words]
Thank you Northern Express and writer, Patrick Sullivan, for covering the story about Dr. Ed Harwell (who was charged with a felony for prescribing medical marijuana - ed.). I find this situation deeply disturbing. Having been in the health care industry since 1990, and an avid researcher, I'd like to share my ideas. In United States law pertaining to health care providers, it is an M.D. that determines "medical necessity." The presence of medical records only serves to substantiate a doctor's findings. Likewise, the absence of medical records does not indicate that something is not medically necessary. [continues 472 words]
Former Cincinnati Police Captain Howard Rahtz, who spoke in Toledo on April 10 about legalizing drugs, has seen two sides of the war on drugs - what he called the country's largest failed policy. "I do have an unusual background. I mean I've basically had two careers: one career in the addictions field and then at age 42, I became a Cincinnati cop," Rahtz said in an interview with Toledo Free Press. Rahtz, also a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) spoke at the University of Toledo's Law Center's McQuade Auditorium as part of the school's first annual Prison Awareness Week. Prison Awareness Week, April 8-13, is part of an effort by Toledoans for Prison Awareness, a coalition of groups like the Lucas County Libertarian Party, Move to Amend, American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Northwest Chapter and the UT Community for Prison Awareness. [continues 630 words]
Dear Editor, Mr. Ferry and Mr. Robson [Harm reduction doesn't fit all sizes, Mar. 26 Just Saying, TIMES] ask why the provincial government spends so much time, energy, and money on harm reduction services, compared to abstinence programs. This assertion is actually incorrect. Substance use prevention and treatment money is not focused predominantly on harm reduction, nor are abstinence-based treatment modalities denied funding as a provincial policy. In fact, the amount of money spent on harm reduction services by regional health authorities is estimated by the Ministry of Health to be about 1/10th of that spent overall on substance use. [continues 660 words]
