HARM REDUCTION PROVEN GATEWAY TO TREATMENT

Re: "Help isn't there, say harm reduction advocates," May 31.

The article promotes the view that harm reduction efforts and
addiction treatment are incompatible based on misleading statements
and incomplete information.

For example, Drug Prevention Network executive director David Berner
asserts that it is absurd to think that supervised injection
facilities can encourage drug users to enter addiction treatment.

However, his opinion is contradicted by scientific evidence from the
evaluation of Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection facility.
Regular users of Insite are more likely to go into detox (the first
step of addiction treatment), when compared to drug users who visit
the facility less frequently. In the year following Insite's opening,
there was a 33 per cent increase in detox use among Insite clients,
compared to the year before it opened.

It has been documented that contact with addictions counsellors at
Insite facilitates entry into detox, and Insite clients who enter
detox are more likely to move into residential addiction treatment
programs and subsequently stop injecting drugs.

The article also suggests that harm reduction programs operate without
meaningful linkages to treatment. This ignores the existence of
Onsite, a 30-bed facility offering detoxification services as well as
transitional housing for people who have completed withdrawal and are
awaiting entry into longer-term treatment programs. Located above
Insite, Onsite accepts clients directly from Insite; demand for these
treatment services is high.

There is an urgent need to expand addiction treatment throughout the
province; however, the view that harm reduction and addiction
treatment are in opposition is simply not supported by the facts.
Research shows how harm reduction programs are the first step for many
in their transition to addiction treatment.

Dr. Will Small, research scientist British Columbia Centre for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS