Posts filed under ‘safe injection sites’
CBC’s “As It Happens” on boulevard camping
CBC’s national current affairs show As It Happens talks with me about Victoria’s proposed prohibition on boulevard camping.
As I Happens Part II: Windows Media File
Segment begins at 7:50.
Or listen to the podcast:
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/asithappens_20100901_37596.mp3
Globe: Victoria’s ‘tent city’ on verge of becoming public health hazard
Lack of hygienic facilities, group of injection-drug users pose potential risk, says B.C.’s chief medical health officer
Brennan Clarke
Victoria — From Saturday’s Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 8:46PM EDT
Two years ago, a landmark court ruling gave homeless people the right to pitch their tents in Victoria city parks. Now the province’s chief medical health officer says a bustling “tent city” made possible by that decision is on the verge of becoming a public health hazard.
“Any time you have a number of people camped together without hygienic facilities for a period of time there’s a potential for a health risk to those individuals,” Dr. Perry Kendall said.
Robert Randall, chairman of the Victoria Downtown Residents Association, said most nights this summer anywhere from 30 to 60 people have set up tents, tarps and makeshift shelters on the site, including a core group who have either refused shelter or been banned from Our Place.
The result has been an increase in violent crime, drug use, prostitution, used needles and discarded condoms.
“It’s become a drug-buying destination for the region, there are old blankets and sleeping bags and refuse everywhere and people are increasingly using the area as a toilet,” Mr. Randall said.
Similar problems occurred outside the former AIDS Vancouver Island needle exchange on Cormorant Street, less than three blocks from Our Place, Mr. Randall said.
The City is supposed to announce some sort of new initiative soon.
One thing no-one ever mentions is the welfare of the Our Place residents. Don’t they deserve a home where the front door is free from drug pushers? Do the most vulnerable members of our society have to push their way through a gauntlet of drugs just to get home?
Times Colonist: “Aim Pandora gripes at other governments, city councillor says”
Testy e-mail sent to businessman
By Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist August 7, 2010
Robert Randall, chairman of the Downtown Residents Association, hopes Thornton-Joe’s e-mail wasn’t an indication the city is giving up.
“I think we’re throwing in the towel a little soon by just throwing up our hands and saying it’s all in Gordon Campbell’s hands,” Randall said.
Randall believes there are steps that can be taken to stop the Pandora Avenue tent city from becoming a permanent fixture.
Some of the ideas that have been suggested are designating Pandora Green a provincial median which would prohibit anyone from using it to open up other areas of town to camping.
“Once the other neighbourhoods have a taste of what Pandora is experiencing, I think it would be a bit of a wake-up call,” he said.
I was cc’d all those emails, and Matthews ticked me off for refusing to complain to other levels of government. As if he thinks all City Council has to do is plead a little louder to the Province and Feds.
That said, I do think that there may be more things the City can do to break up the tent city and the associated drive-thru drug supermarket. One of the examples I mentioned in the above article was designating Pandora green as a Provincial median. That means no pedestrians allowed and would also reduce the risk of further traffic deaths like we’ve seen recently. Would I support that? No, I see it as a desperate last resort.
I sent Charlayne a letter of support last night after the story was published but I said that the closure of St. Andrew’s school will be a terrible blow to the area and I don’t think we could survive another one like that. This neighbourhood is really teetering on the edge.
Mat Wright asks:
Rob – correct me if this is wrong. Does the court ruling allowing camping say it is permissible only if shelter beds are not available?
What I know is that the Supreme Court ruling allowed camping if the number of homeless outnumbered the amount of shelter beds. However, the revised City of Victoria bylaw does not mention shelter beds, it only has a few restrictions: no daytime camping, not in certain parks or sports fields etc.)
TC: Drug use, camping spiralling out of control on Pandora, businesses and residents say
Article in Saturday’s Times Colonist about the problems on Pandora Avenue. People ask me what should be done (or what I would do).
“It’s like a cancer that grows. We are at that tipping point right now,” says Rob Randall, chairman of the Downtown Residents Association.
Victoria police Insp. Jamie Pearce, who heads the city’s focused enforcement team, says the 900-block of Pandora — bordered by Quadra Street and Vancouver Street — accounts for more of his officers’ time than any other area of the city.
He says drug arrests are made daily and people are regularly ticketed for things like public urination, but as far as camping on the grassy stretch in front of Our Place is concerned, their hands are tied.
“They’re allowed to be there,” says Pearce. “The appeal court has actually said that camping in parks is legal and they are allowed to do so and that is designated as a park area.”
Many of the problems on the street involve 20 to 25 individuals, a number of whom have been banned from Our Place yet continue to hang around in the area because it’s a focal point for street people. They’re well known to police and regularly cycle through the justice system, landing back on the street.
“It’s a very complex social issue,” Pearce says. “We’re talking mental health, addictions and homelessness issues that we’re dealing with at the crux of the issue. You’re not seeing this in any other part of town. Unfortunately, it’s now centralized.”
Randall is sympathetic to the police and agrees that in many respects they are caught between a rock and a hard place, but warns the 900-block of Pandora is dangerously close to being lost.
“I think there is a push to ghettoize it and make that the dumping ground for all the city’s social problems,” Randall says, adding a VIHA proposal to put a fixed needle exchange in the block, which was subsequently quashed, “would have been the last straw in writing off that whole neighbourhood.”
“The people who think that was merely NIMBY concerns are simply not understanding the issue and the dynamics of how a neighbourhood changes,” he says.
As it is, the combination of Our Place, the provincial Ministry of Housing and Social Development — which delivers income assistance — and a pharmacy dispensing methadone within the same block has the neighbourhood teetering on the brink of “total oblivion,” Randall says.
The most evil part of all this is that the more the City does to fix homelessness, the more the other levels of government offload their responsibilities.
In addition to more treatment and housing, we need a community court system so that criminal activity can be dealt with–instead of ignoring it. It will work here.
Vic News: Needle Exchange location eyed
Victoria News
Needle exchange location eyed
By Roszan Holmen – Victoria News
Published: July 31, 2009 4:00 PM
Updated: July 31, 2009 4:12 PM
A building in the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood has been singled out as the frontrunner for a new fixed needle-exchange site.
An agreement looks promising for the new pilot project, said Robert Randall, a member of the needle exchange advisory committee.
It’s been 14 months since the needle exchange on Cormorant Street closed. Ever since, the Vancouver Island Health Authority has been on the lookout for a replacement building.
Resistance from landlords has been a major reason why alternative sites fell through, Randall said. The landlord in the Burnside-Gorge building, however, likes the idea. “He supports the idea of harm reduction … To find a landlord OK with this is pretty amazing,” Randall said.
VIHA confirmed that one landowner has come forward with a proposal to house the facility.
“It’s our hope that this will be a viable location,” spokesperson Shannon Marshall said.
But work still needs to be done, she said.
First, the advisory committee needs to make a recommendation. Next, the broader community will be consulted.
Randall confirmed the potential site is in an industrial area.
Ideally, he said, the new location would be downtown, but that’s not realistic given budget cuts at VIHA and high lease rates in the core.
rholmen@saanichnews.com
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/victorianews/news/52222537.html
Needle Exchange Update
VIHA has identified a potential new location for a fixed needle distribution site. It’s in the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood just north of the Downtown border on Princess Street.
Members of the DRA have been part of VIHA’s Needle Exchange Advisory committee and its spin-off, the Site Selection Subcommittee. We find that this site–while far from perfect–meets many of the requirements a successful needle exchange needs.
The Times Colonist reports on it here, although it weighs heavily on the opinions expressed by members of SOLID (Society of Living Intravenous Drug users). It should be noted that the spokesperson for SOLID may not necessarily reflect the views of the SOLID Board or membership, let alone the opinions of Victoria’s drug users.
In a July 23 letter to the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s Needle Exchange Advisory Committee, a group calling itself SOLID — Society for Living Intravenous Drug Users — said a proposed site on Princess Street was inappropriate. No address was given.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Times Colonist, said the area is known to drug users as “extremely dangerous and violent due to street gang activity,” and any attempt at extra policing would only scare away needle-exchange clients.
The area is a few steps away from Government Street’s prostitute stroll. I’m not aware of any other extraordinary “gang” activity here and I’m certain the Vic PD would agree.
SOLID, listed as a member of the Needle Exchange Advisory Committee, also said that the site was too far from downtown services, buildings were badly maintained and unsuitable for a health service and current tenants would have to be displaced.
The site is relatively close to needed services. The compactness of Downtown Victoria gives the illusion of being far. Superimpose Victoria’s services onto a map of Vancouver or any other large city and the distances appear much closer.
The houses need minimal upgrades to meet requirements according to VIHA–not much more than was done at their comparable Nanaimo exchange.
It’s true that current tenants will be displaced but the landlord assures us accomodation will be made at his other properties. Still, there would be a net loss of low-income housing.
The letter argues 941 Pandora Ave., the site of the old St. John’s Ambulance Society, is still the best site for a needle exchange.
But the exchange, and the accompanying drug trade, would destabilize the 900 block Pandora which is already at critical mass for chaos. The residents (including Our Place) deserve a home free from public disorder.
Globe discussion on SALOME project
Globe & Mail follow-up to yesterday`s story on giving heroin to addicts.
The Globe on Vancouver’s new heroin for addicts plan
Trial to give free heroin to hard-core addicts in Vancouver and Montreal
It’s known as the SALOME trial, and it follows on the heels of the NAOMI study.
The NAOMI trial was criticized by some addictions physicians but drew no comment from the federal government, which paid more than $8-million for the research.
“It’s been disappointing,” said Martin Schechter, who led NAOMI and is also working on SALOME. Dr. Schechter said European health authorities are very interested in the work, but Canadian authorities will not acknowledge it.
“There’s a lot invested in NAOMI. We did everything we could to translate the information for decision-makers to make them understand what it meant,” he said.
Dr. Krausz, a leading addictions researcher, has conducted another heroin trial in Germany, the largest such randomized clinical trial in Europe.
The Canadian research aims to determine if medically prescribed heroin is a safe and effective treatment and if users will accept the drug in pill form instead of injecting it.. It will also measure whether a licenced narcotic, Hydromorphone, can be used instead of heroin.
His team is now recruiting about 200 severe heroin addicts who have failed to respond to existing treatments and they expect to have the clinics in Vancouver and Montreal open by this fall.
Last week, Dr. Krausz’s medical team sat down with Vancouver philanthropists asking for additional support for the clinics that will distribute both heroin and a legal narcotic substitute to hard-core addicts. Organizers say one business leader immediately offered a cheque for $100,000.
Can this work? Only if detox and effective addictions treatment are close behind, just as it should be with a needle exchange or supervised injection site. I fear too many carrots and not enough sticks are being offered. All the programs targeted for addicts must have as their end goal the elimination or reduction of the drug use that shatters the body, brain and spirit.
Battle of the United Nations over Victoria harm reduction!
An article in today’s Times Colonist berates Victoria for not having a needle exchange, claiming it goes against United Nations health guidelines. Says health researcher Thomas Kerr:
“I think British Columbians should be very concerned about the fact that a relatively wealthy place like Victoria is not adhering to international guidelines regarding HIV prevention,” Kerr said.
“It’s an embarrassment and I wouldn’t be surprised if the UN Human Rights Commission pronounced that the city of Victoria is violating essential rights by not providing those services,” he said.
All is well then, right? Except that another United Nations body, the International Narcotics Control Board says that safe consumption sites and distribution of crack cocaine kits contravene the UN convention against traffic in illicit drugs.
…as they are facilities where persons can abuse with impunity drugs acquired on the illicit market, [safe consumption sites] contravene the most fundamental principle of the international drug control treaties: drugs should be only used for medical or scientific purposes.
So the UN is mad at us either way. What will the effect be for Victoria? From the health perspective it bolsters the argument for harm reduction but as far as the illicit drug angle goes, the INCB’s opinion doesn’t count for much around here.
Social issues meeting follow-up
UPDATE April 2, 2009: More impressions by Yule Heibel and Davin Greenwell
Our Monday night event, On The Front Lines: Community Solutions for Homelessness and Social Issues, was a great success. A good sized crowd attended to hear the latest on policing, justice and social issues from Police Chief Jamie Graham, Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe, GV Coalition to End Homelessness director Jill Clements and the DVBA’s Ken Kelly.
Ken gave us an update on Downtown initiatives from the business standpoint, including the Clean Team, Con-Air, Retail C.O.P. and the Clean and Safe Committee. Charlayne and Jill got us up to speed with the Mayor’s Task Force and the Coalition including how they’ve reached the first year goal of housing 200 people.
But it was Chief Graham who received the most interest, with residents wanting answers on a diverse range of topics including jaywalking, camping in parks, open drug use and calling 911.
On the latter topic, Graham was clear: don’t hesitate to call 911 if you see something illegal or you feel someone’s safety is in question. It’s true your call will be queued and you might not get an immediate response, especially if it’s a busy time. But you need to call because this information is needed to track crime hotspots. And the Chief said, even if he were to be driving by the area by chance when the call came in he wouldn’t hesitate to investigate it himself.
Graham gave no opinion on the topic of safe injection sites, saying he would let politicians decide and he will enforce whatever law is in place.
The Times Colonist follows up on our meeting here “Police Chief: Victoria’s Drug Problem Not as Big as Some Say“:
“From experts in the field that go undercover, and trust me they are undercover to try to buy drugs, they are not there in the kind of volume you might think. When over a period of two weeks or so we end up with only 12 or 15 arrests, those numbers are really small,” Graham said.
Overall, Graham said, Victoria has a small group of hard-core drug users.
“It’s not widespread. It’s small. They’re disruptive and we know they create difficulties.”
The Times Colonist further expands on Graham’s comments in this editorial “The Real Downtown Problem“:
“Many of the issues our officers are sent to, they act almost as referees,” Graham said, adding the most common calls city police respond to are reports of alcohol-related disorder — people yelling or screaming, arguments, doors being slammed or pushing and shoving.
By comparison, a recently completed undercover operation in Victoria was hard-pressed to turn up any drugs or arrests at all. Over the course of two weeks, police made only about a dozen arrests, and undercover officers reported surprise at how difficult it was to buy illegal drugs.
This is not to downplay the need to deal with the illegal drug trade in downtown Victoria: One need only look at the numbers from needle exchanges and social agencies to be assured the problem is very real. And those addicted to illegal drugs should have every opportunity to seek help and get the treatment they need.
But alcohol is just a different kind of drug — the only difference is that it’s legal. That doesn’t make the fallout from its abuse any less harmful to individuals, families and communities.
The DRA is happy to have sponsored this talk which has spurred some thoughtful dialogue in the community. We look forward to talking to our guests in the future and look forward to hearing about more progress.U
Robertrandall's Weblog 
Recent Comments