Addictions through injection drug use account for more than 65 per cent of the new cases of HIV in Saskatchewan. Herald photo by Angela HillAddiction and injection drug use is the main reason for the province's increasing HIV rate. " There has to be more emphasis put on the area of addictions. As you know, a lot of the HIV is still connected to intravenous drug use and as a result addictions also has to be a part of the equation when coming up with a solution," said Glen Pratt, third vice-chief for health and social development with the Federation for Saskatchewan Indian Nations. [continues 433 words]
Prince Albert will get a visit from a different sort of royalty next week: "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery. Emery will be speaking at Kinsmen Park on marijuana legalization on Aug. 27, less than a month before the activist will go to Seattle to plead guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, where he will likely face five years in prison. Emery plans to talk about his experience and why he feels the prohibition of marijuana causes more harm than good in what will be the secondlast stop on his cross-country " farewell tour." [continues 329 words]
The Sexual Health Clinic Just Switched Locations And Already It Is Busy Operating Under A New Name - Access Place PRINCE ALBERT - It's a combination of services: the sexual health clinic, the Straight to the Point needle exchange harm reduction program and the hepatitis C/HIV program. The seven staff members who run the place work together to provide services to hundreds of people in Prince Albert monthly. Access Place: The Sexual Health Clinic The clinic is both stationary, at its new home underneath Addiction Services at 101 15th Street East, and mobile. Shari Daughton, a nurse in the clinic, makes frequent trips to the Bernice Sayese Centre, Won Ska Cultural School, the Youth Activity Centre and the Indian and MA(c)tis Friendship Centre. [continues 988 words]
Junkies, addicts, druggies. There are so many pejorative terms out there for someone who just needs help. I can't imagine that someone who, for whatever reason, decided just to try a drug or drink, wanted to end up sick, impoverished or on the street. No one wants to end up there, but what if someone has never known anything better? Staff working in the methadone assisted recovery program in Prince Albert state that 99.9 per cent of drug users who have accessed that program have been abused in some form. [continues 538 words]
The front-page story in Wednesday's Herald (outlining a planned free needle exchange program for incarcerated inmates) defines one of the critical problems with the modern-day justice system. The key argument supporting the needle exchange concept is not that different from the one made on this side of prison bars: it costs a lot to look after someone with HIV/AIDS, and the cost of preventing the transmission of blood-borne disease offsets the cost of the exchange program. [continues 319 words]
National HIV/AIDS groups are calling for needle exchanges to be piloted in Canada's prison system. This comes even as the provincial government has ordered an extensive review of Saskatchewan's needle exchange programs. "We disproportionately incarcerate people who use drugs," said Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, a Toronto-based organization that advocates on behalf of those infected with the virus. "Drugs are getting into prisons notwithstanding everything we do to keep them out ... People are shooting up in prisons and they aren't doing it with the proper equipment." [continues 530 words]
Disaffection with the needle exchange program has led to a province-wide review. "The program itself has received a series of complaints from community members who have found needles after the spring thaw," said Rick Trimp, executive director of population health for the province. "With the interest that was raised this year, the minister decided to announce an independent review of the needle exchange program." Health Minister Don McMorris said the government's primary concern is public health and safety. "I have asked that this review begin immediately to ensure that this program is operating as intended and is truly accountable," said the minister. [continues 247 words]
For a variety of reasons, Prince Albert suffers from substance abuse problems and they are of a magnitude demanding immediate attention. But this week the federal government made a move that suggests it has no long-term vision. Prince Albert is in the midst of a large-scale drug enforcement operation that has so far yielded 18 arrests with more expected. But are arrests enough? Critics note the failure of law enforcement: the U.S. "war on drugs" has hardly been successful, after all. Yet the alternative of legalizing some of the substances currently wreaking havoc in our community seems to many an inappropriate option. [continues 269 words]
They are charges at this point, and nothing more. But, the fact that a significant number of individuals now face criminal proceedings in connection to an ongoing drug bust is heartening. Time and time again, we hear people in this community complain about the impacts of drug use in our society. From needles left on front lawns to garages smashed by petty thieves looking for easily sold items, drug use brings about immeasurable harm. For whatever reason, it Prince Albert has a drug problem somewhat abnormal for a community of its size. Naturally, the rank-and-file citizen has called for action. [continues 148 words]
Needle exchange rates in the area are on the rise, hitting about 600,000 in 2007. "Approximately 600,000 both in and out," said Doug Dahl, communications co-ordinator for the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region. "It's been going up a little bit." This is the number of syringes distributed and collected by the health region in the 2007 needle exchange program. In 2006, there were more than 500,000 needles exchanged by the health region. These numbers include needles received through the Sexual Health Clinic as well as needle collection bins. [continues 356 words]
Residents of rural areas have found they are not immune to the problem of improper needle disposal. "I think we counted 20," Marion Bear said as to the number of needles found in the lane leading to her horse pasture. "The person had dumped them out of the car and driven over them." The lane is located on the south side of the South Saskatchewan River, across the Muskoday Bridge. "That's where we load and unload our horses," said Marion. "We let them loose in the lane." [continues 240 words]
A 25 -to 50-bed drug treatment centre should open in St. Louis in 2009. Teen Challenge Inc., which currently operates a treatment centre in Allan, Sask., purchased the former Saskatchewan Impaired Driving Centre last year, said the national director of Teen Challenge Inc. ,George Glover. The organization operates more than 500 locations in 82 countries. The drug rehabilitation is a faith-based, 12-month program. Anyone of any faith can enter the program. However, they have to be ready to commit to it. [continues 308 words]
Drug Recovery Program Hailed As a Success After years of battling with drug addiction, Marlene Masuskapoe is now living a life she is proud of. "I had tried committing suicide for the third time and wanted to quit drugging," said Masuskapoe, a mother of four. "That's when I found this program." The program is Skills Unlimited III, which is run by the Prince Albert Methadone Assisted Recovery Program. It is designed to integrate drug addicts back into working society by giving them the support and tools necessary to succeed. [continues 215 words]
With the spring melt well underway, a winter's worth of litter has been revealed. On May 5, the Prince Albert Downtown Improvement District Association will launch its month-long Pitch-In campaign. "Typically we start around 7 a.m. with generally over 100 volunteers," said Jayne Remenda, executive director of the association. Volunteers include local business owners, but also concerned citizens from all over the city. The Pitch-In campaign is concerned with all types of litter, but one type of particular concern are used syringes, that have accumulated over the winter. [continues 279 words]
The federal government is doling out millions of dollars to help communities fight illicit drug use and Prince Albert might be one of the beneficiaries. Near the end of 2007, Health Minister Tony Clement announced the federal government would offer more than $7 million for communities across Canada to "tackle" the problem of drug use among young people. The funding is being made available through the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund for 2008/2009, which is part of the National Anti-Drug Strategy that was announced in the 2007 federal budget. Communities across the nation will be competing for the money by submitting proposals outlining specific plans on how to use portions of the funding. "This call for proposals represents an important investment by the government of Canada to steer our young people away from drugs, and help to ensure they do not get addicted in the first place," said Clement in the 2007 press release. [end]
We would like to offer our hearty congratulations to Sandy Bergen and her family. Bergen, as reported in Wednesday's Herald, has launched a civil lawsuit seeking damages from Clinton Davey. According to Bergen's statement of claim, Davey is the man responsible for dealing drugs that sent Bergen into a coma in 2005. The Biggar resident is bang on when she says the suit "sends some sort of message." We concur. Further, we wonder what might happen if more people had the same initiative? [continues 212 words]
As promised, the federal Conservative minority government officially launched their bid to toughen the nation's laws. Legislation introduced Tuesday will ensure a mandatory one-year sentence for the use of violence or weapons while trafficking drugs, a two-year sentence for dealing drugs to youth or for dealing near a school or other area frequented by youth and automatic two-year jail terms for those involved in large-scale (500 plant) grow ops. Stiffer sentences also await those trafficking drugs within the context of organized crime. [continues 253 words]
The Saskatchewan Party is raising questions about comments made by an NDP candidate during a recent students' forum at Carlton School. During the question and answer part of the forum on Nov. 1, a student asked Chad Nilson about legalizing marijuana. Nilson responded that because that issue falls under federal jurisdiction, students should lobby their MP if they want marijuana legalized. Saskatchewan Party candidates Darryl Hickie and Kevin Shiach said they have received phone calls from parents concerned that Nilson was advocating legalization. [continues 164 words]
In order to protect the identities of the people featured in this story, the mother of a drug-addicted young person will be called Peggy Strife, and her son will be called Brad. One local mother says it's time for parents to wake up and realize all youths are at risk of becoming drug addicts. Peggy Strife, who lives in a $400,000 home in a good neighbourhood, has been grappling with her 20-year-old son Brad's crystal meth addiction for the past several years. [continues 243 words]
Stephen Harper thinks he's Ronald Reagan. "The Conservative government is set to launch a regressive war on drugs," a Liberal press release says. The war is scheduled to start this week, when the government releases a new National Drug Strategy that will get tough on drugs. More law enforcement. More treatment and prevention. But less "harm reduction" - - including the end of support for "Insite," Vancouver's safe-injection facility. And so the lines have been drawn. On one side, those who say they are defending the liberal Canadian approach against a Reagan-era war on drugs. On the other, those who say the liberal Canadian approach amounts to government aiding and abetting drug use and must be replaced by a strong effort to stop use before it starts. [continues 513 words]
