Harm Reduction

Monday Magazine, 16 Feb 2012 - Victoria's Cannabis Buyers Club Speaks to Life Free of Pain, Stigma Around a Drug That Heals and the Trial That Could Change It All Gayle Quin was 13 the first time she learned that smoking weed helped her. She suffered from debilitating menstrual cramps and intense bleeding, a condition that would later be diagnosed as dysmenorrhea. But back when Quin was a young girl, such conditions and medicines for those ailments were far from being realized with modern science.

Newsday, 15 Feb 2012 - As someone who works to help prevent overdose deaths, I don't just get sad when I hear about someone dying from a suspected accidental drug overdose -- I get angry. And frustrated. White House drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, speaking with CBS News about Whitney Houston's untimely death, referred to it as a "teachable moment." The "teachable moment" message always seems to get trotted out when someone famous appears to have died of an overdose. But what's being taught?

Terrace Standard, 15 Feb 2012 - SKEENA BULKLEY VALLEY NDP MP Nathan Cullen continues his campaign to be leader of his party by saying marijuana should be decriminalized. "Prohibition clearly has not achieved its goals and it's time our laws stopped criminalizing people whom society does not see as criminals," said Cullen in response to a questionnaire from NDP members who want marijuana to be legalized.

Globe and Mail, 14 Feb 2012 - Spurred in part by the point-blank shooting of a known gangster in an upscale Vancouver hotel, four former attorneys-general of British Columbia have added their voices to a chorus calling for the legalization of marijuana, saying current laws are resulting in a worsening spiral of violence and crime. "Gunfire in downtown Vancouver hotels as drug warlords fight over their turf is all the reason that any British Columbian should need to call their local [MLA] to say, 'Could we have a new approach please?' " said Geoff Plant, who served as attorney-general between 2001 and 2005. "Because the current one is not working."

Ubyssey, 09 Feb 2012 - "[Michael] Ondaatje once called me Canada's most famous addict." Dean Wilson shared this anecdote with students in the Norm Theatre on Tuesday evening after Cinema Politica's screening of FIX: The Story of an Addicted City. Wilson, the ex-president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), is a central figure in Nettie Wild's 2002 Canadian documentary.

In a groundbreaking move, the New Mexico legislature has approved a proposal to study how to enhance and expand the state's already cutting edge harm reduction programs, including a look a medically supervised injection sites (SIJs -- sometimes also known as safe injection sites) for hard drug users. That could clear the way for an eventual SIJ pilot program to operate in the state, although considerable political and legal hurdles remain.

[image:1 align:right]The legislation, Senate Memorial 45, was sponsored by Sen. Richard Martinez, whose constituency includes Rio Arriba County, which has a drug overdose fatality rate five times the state's rate. The state's rate is double the national rate, making New Mexico the nation's leader in drug overdose-related deaths per capita.

"These deaths are preventable," said Martinez. "Overdose spares no one and affects everyone, especially families."

State health officials estimate the state has at least 24,000 injection drug users. Other estimates put that figure as high as 50,000.

The memorial, which was also endorsed by the New Mexico Public Health Association, passed the Senate on a 43-0 vote Monday night and does not need any further action to go into effect. It directs the University of New Mexico's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Center to undertake the study of emerging and evidence-based harm reduction approaches, including SIJs, and report back to the legislature by November 1.

"Sadly, our drug overdose epidemic has outgrown our current harm reduction approaches," said Emily Kaltenbach, director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) New Mexico office. "On Monday, our state senators realized this and did not let politics trump science. They clearly stated their intent to go beyond the status quo and explore innovative strategies to help New Mexico’s families."

"Wow, getting something like that on the state level is huge," said Hilary McQuie, Western director for the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC). "New Mexico once again takes the lead in state harm reduction efforts; it's one of the few states to take a statewide approach to these things."

"Heroin is still the number one cause of ODs here, but we're also seeing a high number of prescription drug overdose deaths," said Kaltenbach, "so I'm incredibly encouraged that the legislature is willing to look beyond the status quo and start studying proven programs like supervised injection sites. We're hoping to study the feasibility and legal and ethical implications, leading to a pilot site in New Mexico."

If that actually happens, it would be the first SIJ in the nation. Although SIJS are operating in at least 27 cities around the world, including Vancouver and Sydney, and have been proven to reduce the spread of HIV, Hep C, and other blood-borne diseases, as well as prevent overdoses, without increasing criminality or drug use, political and legal obstacles in the US have so far prevented them from spreading here. They face morality-based opposition as well as federal issues including a "crack house law," which bars anyone from knowingly allowing others to use controlled substances.

"These same sorts of issues came up when syringe exchange programs were first discussed," said Kaltenbach. "I think the legal issues can be overcome, but the states have to be willing to look at it as an extension of syringe exchange. This study will address those issues."

While New Mexico is the first state to order a study of SIJs, it isn't the only place in the country where they are on the agenda. In San Francisco, drug user groups, activists, and advocates are working toward winning approval for one there, while in New York City, a similar effort is going on.

"The biggest obstacle is the perception of legal barriers," said DPA's Laura Thomas, who has been working on the San Francisco effort. "We have these crack house statutes, as well as state laws, that say it's illegal to knowingly allow people to use controlled substances. We have to figure out if there's room for a research project, like in Sydney, or create an exemption, like in Vancouver, or get a state law passed, like in New Mexico. We need a ruling that says 'yes,' this is not a violation."

Richard Martinez In the meantime, the achingly slow process of building political support for an SIJ, or at least a feasibility study, goes forward. A year ago this week, a city Hep C task force recommended looking at SIJs. That followed on a similar recommendation from the city's HIV coalition.

"We continue to try to build support for a safe injection site," said Thomas. "During the mayoral campaign last year, at one of the candidate forums, they were all asked if they would support evaluating whether it would work for San Francisco, and most of them said they did, including our current city attorney, Dennis Herrera."

But despite the recommendations and expressions of support, nothing has happened yet. The San Francisco Drug Users' Union is trying to change that.

"We will be pressing the Board of Supervisors to study the possibilities," said the group's Isaac Jackson. "We're also doing a SIJ community design competition, a project in community imagineering. We'll give the winner a nominal prize and we'll present the winning design to the Board," he said.

"We think the city's Human Rights Commission will recommend safe injection sites in April," said HRC's McQuie. "But there have been other bodies and other recommendations. It's a matter of where the political will is and the priorities are."

For HRC, said McQuie, getting a safe injection site up and running in San Francisco is a back burner issue right now, but that could change.

"We have a lot of really great harm reduction projects going on, like the DOPE Project, that aren't getting financial support, and while there was a lot of enthusiasm for awhile about working toward a safe injection site, we kept planning meetings, but nobody would show up. It didn't feel like the energy was there. If the San Francisco Drug Users' Union wants to take some leadership, we would be happy to support it," said McQuie. "I think we will be going back to San Francisco and asking somebody to do something on this issue, but we're not sure who yet."

On the other side of the country, street-level activists are aiming for an SIJ in New York City. Citiwide Harm Reduction in the South Bronx, which is on the verge of opening the city's first fully staffed primary care clinic at a syringe exchange, is preparing to build a full-scale model of an SIJ at its 144th Street building. It may seem like performance act, but its purpose is educational.

"Our inspiration is the Smithsonian museums, where you can go inside the cockpit of the space shuttle," said Citiwide executive director Robert Cordero. "People have this grisly misconception of what a safe injection site would be like, and we want them to be able to have this Smithsonian experience here in the Bronx."

Such a model could be quite useful in educating elected officials and law enforcement, Cordero said.

"SIJs are a humane public health approach to reducing overdoses, HIV, Hep C, and crime, and can provide compassionate care for addicted people until they are ready to get into treatment," he said. "Do we want that, or do we want them just hanging out in front of the bodegas on 149th all day?"

Citiwide isn't going it alone on agitating for SIJs, and it isn't even taking the lead. Instead it is working with groups like HRC and the Vocals-NY Users' Union in a broader campaign.

"We're not trying to be the HRC or Vocals-NY," said Cordero. "We advocate through demonstrating what it would be like while partnering with others who are advocating every day. Our effort is to build the SIJ model, and when anyone comes to New York who is interested in these issues, there can be an educational moment."

Supervised injection sites are not a reality yet in the US, but pressure for them is mounting. Whether it's New Mexico, New York City, or San Francisco, one of these years someone is going to lead the US into the ranks of nations that understand their utility -- and their humanity. New Mexico has just taken a giant step, but let's hope it has to move fast to beat San Francisco and New York.

The Calgary Sun, 07 Feb 2012 - Drugs can kill you. It's a simple message government and law enforcement have been trying to get across for what seems like forever. That hasn't stopped people from consuming drugs -- and of late, the results have been deadly.

Medicine Hat News, 03 Feb 2012 - Medicine Hat hasn't seen any cases of the tainted ecstasy linked to 13 deaths in Western Canada -- but that doesn't mean the drug isn't on its way here. "We haven't seen anything of that nature here yet," said S/Sgt. David Brandrith of the Medicine Hat Police's organized crime unit regarding the killer drug that police from other regions have linked to eight deaths in southern Alberta and five in B.C.

Winnipeg Free Press, 02 Feb 2012 - RICHMOND B.C. -- Another person -- a teenaged boy -- has died from an ecstasy overdose in Vancouver this month, bringing to 19 the number of ecstasy-related death in the past six months in B.C. Ecstasy is described as a "recreational" drug. It makes you feel warm and outgoing. It makes you want to hug everyone.

The Times Tribune, 31 Jan 2012 - Rapid Rise of Synthetic Marijuana, Bath Salts Discussed At a point in Monday night's drug forum at Corbin High School, Operation UNITE President/CEO Karen Kelly asked everyone in the auditorium to stand up. Then Kelly said the following words.

Lake County News-Sun, 30 Jan 2012 - Mounting heroin use and deaths in Lake County and the Chicago suburbs needs to be addressed through prevention and education. U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, R-Kenilworth, held a roundtable discussion Monday on the rise of heroin use, especially in suburban areas =AD an issue that has been on the radar in Lake County since overdose cases started increasing in 2007.

Nelson Star, 27 Jan 2012 - A new form of ecstasy sweeping across British Columbia and Alberta has users in critical condition and has even caused death in some cases. While there haven't been any victims reported yet locally, police say it's a possibility. "Although we haven't been directly affected by overdoses or death here in Nelson, we certainly do have ecstasy here," said Sgt. Paul Burkart of the Nelson Police Department.

Martlet, 26 Jan 2012 - The UVic Students' Society (UVSS) has agreed to move forward with the installation and ongoing maintenance of needle disposal boxes in designated areas around the SUB. A motion to provide the main hallway bathrooms and Munchie Bar with drop-off boxes was put forward by UVSS Chairperson Tara Paterson, after the UVic Department of Occupational Safety and Environment reported its finding of 10 stray needles on university grounds in 2010 and 15 more in 2011.

Harbor Country News, 25 Jan 2012 - To Congressman Fred Upton: The Federal Government with its prohibition on Hemp fuel and other Hemp products is costing the division of labor of the Nation an annual trillion dollars per year in lost fuel, solvents, paper, cooking oil and endless Hemp products sales due to this Federal Prohibition. The Hemp Industry, in the production of fuel alone, has the ability to pull the State of Michigan out of its debt problems as a hard cash crop to the farmers, and new jobs in the production and distribution market process, which far exceed the Keystone pipeline financial gain and profits which most likely will come from sales to China, or perhaps you are going to tell me that China will not see any of the oil or fuel from the Keystone project?

Bonney Lake & Sumner Courier-Herald, 24 Jan 2012 - Any question whether medical marijuana dispensaries would be able to join the ranks of Sumner's licensed businesses returned under the cover of smoke Jan. 17. The City Council voted unanimously to affirm an ordinance enacting a six-month moratorium on issuing business licenses and allowing land or building use for marijuana dispensaries. The ordinance was a response to the lack of clarity regarding the legality of dispensaries in state law, City Attorney Brett Vinson said.

Nanaimo News Bulletin, 24 Jan 2012 - It's interesting that the Vancouver Island Health Authority is quietly moving forward with its harm-reduction strategy. What's perhaps more interesting is that the public was relatively quiet about a previously contentious issue.

Coast Reporter, 20 Jan 2012 - Going Coastal It's a bit of a dirty topic, but more than ever the need to talk about drugs is presenting itself. Since the days of alcohol prohibition and through the years of similar policies governing drug use, there have always been those who disobey and, ultimately, those who profit.

Capital Xtra!, 19 Jan 2012 - HEALTH / Activists Say Federal Omnibus Bill Will Put Drug Users, Prisoners at Greater Risk Local advocates for successful harm-reduction programs are arguing that the federal omnibus crime bill places drug users at a higher risk of contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

Nanaimo News Bulletin, 19 Jan 2012 - The Vancouver Island Health Authority is looking at distributing crack kits, needles and other harm reduction supplies at additional facilities across the Island. The health authority made harm reduction a hot topic in Nanaimo when it rolled out a pilot project for a mobile service without consultation in 2007, drawing backlash from the community and city council.

Metro, 18 Jan 2012 - Alberta Health Services Ordered An End To The Distribution Of Crack Pipes In August - Legality Of Program Remains A Mystery Frontline workers attempting to aid drug addicts say they have noticed a disturbing trend since Alberta's governing health body ordered an end to the distribution of crack pipes.