HARM REDUCTION CENTRE GETS ITS FIX BY PREVENTING PAIN

With Full Status, Group Promotes Drug Safety

Conceived at the beginning of the year, the Students' Society's Harm
Reduction Centre aimed to ensure the safe use of drugs and alcohol
among students. Named an official SSMU service in November 2006, the
centre is now aiming to promote more awareness of its budding
services by spreading word-of-mouth and maintaining regular office hours.

Although originally conceived as a club, SSMU Vice-President Clubs
and Services Floh Herra-Vega decided that the HRC should be developed
into a service.

Over the summer, it was given "interim status," a designation not
typical of the process for establishing new groups.

"Interim status doesn't actually exist, but we didn't feel it was
fair to create a new service without Council during the summer. We
didn't want to make that decision on our own," Herra-Vega said.

Herra-Vega said that while she is involved with the centre, she is
not in charge of its daily responsibilities.

"I communicate closely with them and I meet with someone who is
involved with running them once a week, but I don't run the day to
day stuff," Herra-Vega said.

The ones who do run the show are organizers Eric Rumi and Mahmud Naqi
who began to develop the concept of the centre last April when they
felt the need for more accessible information on drug use for students.

"Education about drugs usually comes from on high, from teachers,
professors and public health officers. There's a distance between the
average user and the public health officer," Naqi said.

The possibility of setting up a phone line and a peer-to-peer
counseling service are being explored.

Located on the fourth floor of the Shatner building, the HRC is also
planning to host a conference in March, where discussion will center
on alternative drug policies and development of a Canadian branch of
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

During the fall semester, the HRC focused on making contacts with
other groups involved in harm reduction.

"There's a lot happening in Montreal at the moment," said Ariana
Carella, an HRC member. "We're networking with other people working
in this area like the Cactus Centre needle exchange."

In order to spark a dialogue, the HRC hosted a panel discussion
during which Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier, director of student affairs in
the faculty of medicine, spoke about the Black and Blue Festival,
which promotes safe drug use among its participants.

During frosh, the centre distributed a guide to safe drug use to
freshmen. A more comprehensive guide, compiled from textbooks, online
resources and drug user testimonials, has been made available to
other services at McGill, including Queerline.

"It contains information on ways to safely use drugs, tips on how to
react if something goes wrong and on how to keep yourself grounded if
you're involved in these types of activities," Carella said.

Herra-Vega said that she would like to see the HRC cooperate with other groups.

"I'd like to see them collaborate with the other safety services in
this building, which is already starting to happen."

Both Carella and Naqi have found a positive reaction to the HRC
within most of the McGill community. However, Carella admits that
there's still some reluctance for people to admit that there are
drugs at McGill.

"A lot of the students, if not supportive, are very accepting," Naqi
said. "They recognize that if someone is going to do something
harmful we should reduce their pain."