VCH Forum If Mark Haden set policy in our country, harm reduction would be expanded and the war on drugs declared a failure. The present system is not working, he said. Haden is clinical supervisor for Vancouver Coast Health (VCH) at the Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre, Addiction Services in Vancouver. He was at the Sechelt Indian Band Hall on June 6 at a Harm Reduction Forum hosted by VCH. Not one to back down from controversy, Haden challenged some of the common beliefs about harm reduction. [continues 800 words]
Harm reduction review hits Abby council Monday Moments after parking in a central-Abbotsford alley, the Portland Hotel Society's mobile needle exchange van is quickly and quietly swarmed by half a dozen people. Hushed conversations ensue as the group congregates around the vehicle's doors to gather clean syringes, needle filters, crack pipes, alcohol swabs or condoms. There is no idle chatter. As soon as the men and women have their supplies, they scatter and vanish into surrounding streets and parking lots as quickly as they appeared. [continues 771 words]
After a three-year hiatus, a noted anti-drug and anti-violence program taught by local police officers returns to Petaluma elementary schools with strong community support. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program fell victim to budget constraints resulting in staff decreases at the Petaluma Police Department a few years ago, according to Police Chief Dan Fish. The program returns to nine Petaluma elementary schools this year thanks to donations from the Petaluma Chapter of the North Bay Association of Realtors and the McDowell Drug Task Force. [continues 564 words]
Summary The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961 aimed to eliminate the illicit production and non-medical use of cannabis, cocaine, and opioids, an aim later extended to many pharmaceutical drugs. Over the past 50 years international drug treaties have neither prevented the globalisation of the illicit production and non-medical use of these drugs, nor, outside of developed countries, made these drugs adequately available for medical use. The system has also arguably worsened the human health and wellbeing of drug users by increasing the number of drug users imprisoned, discouraging effective countermeasures to the spread of HIV by injecting drug users, and creating an environment conducive to the violation of drug users' human rights. The international system has belatedly accepted measures to reduce the harm from injecting drug use, but national attempts to reduce penalties for drug use while complying with the treaties have often increased the number of drug users involved with the criminal justice system. [continues 7294 words]
The iconic D.A.R.E. anti-drug program -- once a fixture in South Florida schools -- is becoming a relic. Fewer students in Palm Beach and Broward counties are parading the once-popular T-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan "D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs." In 2011, only 2,430 students in both counties completed the 10-week course, state records show. That's a sharp drop from 2008, when 6,318 students took part. Police agencies say they don't have enough money to keep teaching the class, which aims to show kids how to handle peer pressure and avoid drugs. Rather, most schools use class time to prepare students for Florida Comprehensive Aptitude Tests, authorities say. Others claim D.A.R.E. is outdated and ineffective. [continues 703 words]
