News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Fix: Vancouver's Drug Strategy And Harm Reduction Plan |
Title: | CN BC: Fix: Vancouver's Drug Strategy And Harm Reduction Plan |
Published On: | 2000-11-21 |
Source: | Vancouver Sun (CN BC) |
Fetched On: | 2008-09-03 01:39:54 |
VANCOUVER'S DRUG STRATEGY AND HARM REDUCTION PLAN
Mayor Philip Owen Unveils His Sweeping Plan For City's Drug Crisis.
The city's four goals with its drug strategy.
Push the federal and provincial governments to act.
Restore public order, particularly at Main and Hastings.
Tackle the drug-related health crisis.
Establish a single co-ordinator who can pull everyone together to get
things done
Its 24 Recommendations:
ENFORCEMENT
Increase police drug and organized-crime squads to target mid- and
upper-level dealers
Start a senior-level "drug action team" to co-ordinate response to
neighbourhood drug issues
Start a pilot drug treatment court with a range of options for
treatment
Look for legal changes that would help police and courts go after new
trends in the drug industry, like dial a dope, public drug
consumption, and youth prostitution
Redeploy police officers in the Downtown Eastside to increase their
visibility in the neighbourhood
HARM REDUCTION
Provide short-term shelter and housing options for active drug users
on the street
Set up a task force to look at the possibility of a scientific,
medical project to develop safe injection sites
Set up street-drug testing so that people can get quick information
about changes in quality in order to prevent drug overdoses
Start an overdose-death prevention campaign
TREATMENT
Start a 15-bed treatment unit just for women, women with children, and
pregnant women
Set up 20 treatment beds for young people outside the Downtown
Eastside
Expand support services for families of children who become
users
Set up six medical detox beds at St. Paul's for those with serious
medical problems
Take steps to start clinical trials of drugs like buprenorphine as
possible substitutes for heroin and cocaine addiction, to increase the
options for treatment for people who are methadone resistant
Proceed with the proposed North American research trial into giving
heroin to hard-core addicts
Put needle exchanges into all primary health care clinics, hospitals,
pharmacies and relevant non-profit group sites in the region
Make methadone easier to get, expanding it by 1,000 clients in the
next two years
Provide different kinds of housing for users and people trying to go
clean
Pilot day centres for addicts outside the Downtown Eastside to help
prevent users, especially young people, from getting involved in the
inner-city drug scene
PREVENTION
Start a community process that gives neighbourhoods more power to
combat drug abuse
Develop a pilot citywide school curriculum on drugs and drug
abuse
There are also three recommendations urging provincial ministries, the
provincial government and the federal government to act in the areas
they control.
Mayor Philip Owen Unveils His Sweeping Plan For City's Drug Crisis.
The city's four goals with its drug strategy.
Push the federal and provincial governments to act.
Restore public order, particularly at Main and Hastings.
Tackle the drug-related health crisis.
Establish a single co-ordinator who can pull everyone together to get
things done
Its 24 Recommendations:
ENFORCEMENT
Increase police drug and organized-crime squads to target mid- and
upper-level dealers
Start a senior-level "drug action team" to co-ordinate response to
neighbourhood drug issues
Start a pilot drug treatment court with a range of options for
treatment
Look for legal changes that would help police and courts go after new
trends in the drug industry, like dial a dope, public drug
consumption, and youth prostitution
Redeploy police officers in the Downtown Eastside to increase their
visibility in the neighbourhood
HARM REDUCTION
Provide short-term shelter and housing options for active drug users
on the street
Set up a task force to look at the possibility of a scientific,
medical project to develop safe injection sites
Set up street-drug testing so that people can get quick information
about changes in quality in order to prevent drug overdoses
Start an overdose-death prevention campaign
TREATMENT
Start a 15-bed treatment unit just for women, women with children, and
pregnant women
Set up 20 treatment beds for young people outside the Downtown
Eastside
Expand support services for families of children who become
users
Set up six medical detox beds at St. Paul's for those with serious
medical problems
Take steps to start clinical trials of drugs like buprenorphine as
possible substitutes for heroin and cocaine addiction, to increase the
options for treatment for people who are methadone resistant
Proceed with the proposed North American research trial into giving
heroin to hard-core addicts
Put needle exchanges into all primary health care clinics, hospitals,
pharmacies and relevant non-profit group sites in the region
Make methadone easier to get, expanding it by 1,000 clients in the
next two years
Provide different kinds of housing for users and people trying to go
clean
Pilot day centres for addicts outside the Downtown Eastside to help
prevent users, especially young people, from getting involved in the
inner-city drug scene
PREVENTION
Start a community process that gives neighbourhoods more power to
combat drug abuse
Develop a pilot citywide school curriculum on drugs and drug
abuse
There are also three recommendations urging provincial ministries, the
provincial government and the federal government to act in the areas
they control.
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