WHAT'S YOUR SOLUTION?

We Asked Prominent People In The Downtown Eastside For Their
Suggestions -- On Drug Addiction In Particular

Justice Thomas Gove

Downtown Community Court judge

"We need housing, and that's coming [with the province's
single-room-occupancy hotels.] We also need more capacity in the
drug-treatment area, for residential facilities. It seems to me
sensible that if somebody decides today they want to get off drugs,
they should be able to access a detox centre and not be told to call
back every day for the next two weeks. If you have a heart condition
and you go to the hospital and you need to be treated, you get
admitted. If you have a drug dependency that is causing you to kill
yourself, why can't you get admitted? I think we have a real shortage
of drug-treatment programs in the province. There are lots of recovery
houses, most of which are run by people who are not licensed, not
regulated. I order people to go to these places; I don't know if they
are any good. We do have a number of actual treatment centres but,
because there are so few of them, the waiting lists are so long that,
for people who are in crisis, they just don't get there."