Harm Reduction (MAP)

Abbotsford News, 03 May 2012 - Council Will Revisit Harm Reduction Bylaw Abbotsford will re-examine its harm reduction policy. Mayor Bruce Banman said he plans to review the bylaw, which bans needle exchange facilities and other forms of harm reduction from operating in the city - despite the fact he hasn't seen a new report issued by Fraser Health.

Abbotsford Times, 01 May 2012 - Fraser Health Sticks It to Safe Injection Sites, Suggests Needle Exchange Is the Best Option for Abbotsford Fraser Health Authority released a proposed harm reduction plan centered around needle distribution for the City of Abbotsford on Monday.

The Oshawa Express, 01 May 2012 - Beth Whalen sees many walks of life come through the doors of the John Howard Society of Durham Region. Each person has their own story to tell. Lately, the tales she's heard are showing more people are turning to heroin and fentanyl use in part because the popular painkiller OxyContin is going off the market, being replaced with a more difficult drug to tamper with in OxyNEO.

Globe and Mail, 27 Apr 2012 - As debate about the failure of the drug war gains momentum, nobody is expecting a sudden ceasefire between cartels and police. It is far too complex and diffuse a problem. Instead, small battles will be won city by city, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. One striking success is Vancouver's InSite program, North America's only supervised-injection site. Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to close the clinic, and would have if the Supreme Court of Canada hadn't intervened. The court approved the clinic because of the specific conditions that gave rise to it, including the concentration of drug addicts in the impoverished Downtown Eastside neighbourhood and the high rates of disease and overdose.

Globe and Mail, 26 Apr 2012 - Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group Founder, and a commissioner with the Global Commission on Drug Policy, answers Globe and Mail readers' questions about why the war on drugs has failed. The commission released a ground-breaking report last June which found that prohibition serves only to empower violent criminal cartels and does not deter drug users in any way.

Globe and Mail, 26 Apr 2012 - The global war on drugs is based on false assumptions and antiquated laws that do not reflect contemporary research about drug use, production and markets. It is time to cast aside dogma, and transform global drug strategy with policies based on evidence, not ideology. At the recent Summit of the Americas, Latin America's leaders pressed Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama to study alternatives to the failed war on drugs; even Mr. Harper, architect of mandatory minimums for minor drug offences at home, acknowledged the current approach isn't working. The 31 hemispheric leaders agreed to appoint a panel to study reform of global drug policies.

Goldstream Gazette, 25 Apr 2012 - Agency Discreetly Distributing Free Needles, Crack Piopes An organization that distributes free crack pipes, syringes or condoms for drug users is expanding its harm-reduction operations on the West Shore.

Metro, 24 Apr 2012 - One of the world's most respected authorities on humanitarian crises has commended local policy makers, health and law experts for challenging the war on drugs. Louise Arbour, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and chief prosecutor for two international criminal tribunals, made the comments Monday at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

Bancroft This Week, 24 Apr 2012 - It's been 90 days since 20 RCMP and OPP officers raided the home and medical clinic of Dr. Rob Kamermans in Coe Hill. The warrant said the doctor was possessing and trafficking drugs. Found at his office on the morning of Jan. 26, Kamermans was cuffed and taken away by the OPP. He says an officer made him pose for a picture in handcuffs outside his clinic. When he asked why he had to be cuffed, he was told it was for the protection of the police.

Abbotsford Times, 24 Apr 2012 - Numbers in an upcoming Fraser Health report for the City of Abbotsford around injection drug use show relatively high rates of overdose hospitalizations, deaths and hepatitis C rates within the community. And those rates may be tied to the city's lack of harm reduction services, says a Fraser Health expert.

Abbotsford News, 24 Apr 2012 - BEGINNING THE DIALOGUE WITH YOUTH An Abbotsford Police youth officer, a physician with some expertise in addictions, and a drug and alcohol counsellor were at Robert Bateman secondary on Thursday evening to speak with parents about drugs.

Toronto Star, 21 Apr 2012 - OTTAWA - Thomas Mulcair is clearing the air on pot, clarifying that he doesn't believe anyone should go to jail for possessing a couple of joints. The freshly minted NDP leader created confusion about his party's position recently when he said decriminalization of marijuana would be a mistake.

The Record, 20 Apr 2012 - But Report's Author Says Stats Are on Par With Other Cities A Fraser Health Authority report on injection drug use and harm reduction is showing relatively high rates of hepatitis C, illicit drug overdoses and deaths for New Westminster, although the report's author says the Royal City is on par with surrounding municipalities.

Globe and Mail, 20 Apr 2012 - Tom Mulcair is clearing the air on pot, clarifying that he doesn't believe anyone should go to jail for possessing a couple of joints. The freshly minted NDP leader created confusion about his party's position recently when he said decriminalization of marijuana would be a mistake.

The Copenhagen Post, 19 Apr 2012 - the Location of Copenhagen's First Permanent Injection Room Has Been Found in the City's Vesterbro District After years of political wrangling, Copenhagen City Council decided yesterday that a community centre on Istedgade in Vesterbro will be the site of Copenhagen's first permanent injection room.

Globe and Mail, 17 Apr 2012 - This weekend's Summit of the Americas did not produce a joint communique charting the future of the hemisphere, but the 31 leaders agreed on one thing: The U.S.-led war on drugs has been a dismal failure. The summit pledged to create a panel of experts through the Organization of American States to consider drug policy reforms, and new approaches to stem the violence and power of the drug cartels.

Kenora Daily Miner And News, 16 Apr 2012 - Kenora's needle exchange increased 28 per cent last year - and that's normal. The Northwestern Health Unit program mostly based out of the Morning Star detox centre handed out 69,340 needles in 2011, up from 49,720 in 2010.

Herald News, 14 Apr 2012 - You'd never have thought heroin addiction would come to torment teens in the suburbs. We all know it's an inner-city scourge, a street drug. That comforting but errant presumption has gotten in the way of facing the problem. As our stories this past week revealed, heroin use in South Cook and Will counties has become an epidemic - one that has found teenagers more susceptible than adults, allowing it to stay hidden longer than most plagues.

Toronto Sun, 13 Apr 2012 - Toronto already has methadone and needle exchange programs for drug addicts. We don't need three new sites where addicts could inject illegal drugs, as recommended by the Toronto and Ottawa Supervised Consumption Assessment study prepared by St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto.

Globe and Mail, 12 Apr 2012 - The battle over whether to give addicts a safe place to inject has moved to Ontario from the West Coast. When the Supreme Court of Canada handed Vancouver's supervised injection site a legal victory late last year by denying the federal government's attempt to shutter it, many observers expected the ruling to give rise to similar sites across Canada.