HARM REDUCTION A LONG-TERM STRATEGY

Dear Editor:

I was so angered by Wallace Craig's Nov. 7 column, Harm Reduction Is
Cunning Nonsense.

Craig describes harm reduction as being an idea "conjured up by
Vancouver's health department and the Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority" when it is actually used worldwide and by the World Health
Organization. Initiatives range anywhere from designated driver
campaigns to condoms in schools, all the way to safe injection sites.
Harm reduction involves helping people to make, and achieve,
individual attainable goals, with the understanding that abstinence
may not be realistic for some drug users. The hope is that these
goals can help all people lead healthier lives.

One of the most important things that Insite, Vancouver's safe
injection site, has done is to connect users of the facility with
health professionals and health services. For the most part, these
are street-entrenched people that tend to fall through the cracks.
Health professionals at Insite have performed more than 6,200 nursing
interventions, such as wound care, and have made more than 4,000
referrals to withdrawal management, methadone maintenance programs
and addiction counselling. These services may never have been
accessed without a place like Insite.

The primary objective of the Canada Health Act is "to protect,
promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents
of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services
without financial or other barriers." This means that everyone should
have equal access to care to help them reach individual health goals.
Harm reduction is not an instant fix with reports and statistics
showing fast results. It is a long-term process that requires
co-operation between health care, governments and communities to be effective.

Christie Baker

North Vancouver