HARM REDUCTION NECESSARY FOR NANAIMO

Few people in Nanaimo should have any doubt or question the need for
harm reduction or its efficacy.

A year after the Vancouver Island Health Authority has introduced
distribution of drug paraphernalia and condoms, the program seems to
be going well enough to see it expanded to a second distribution point.

We can at least say that VIHA has this time consulted with the city
before moving ahead on the controversial but necessary program. And
while some residents may still object to harm reduction, we ought to
be grateful that VIHA's bungling of this program in 2007 didn't
destroy it completely.

The stakes are just too high, for addicts and the community, to go
without such a program.

We have had a viable needle exchange in this city in various guises
for close to 20 years. While concrete statistics may be hard to come
by, it's hard not to conclude that providing a supply of clean needles
has saved lives and reduced the amount of infection in the street population.

In 2007, when VIHA embarked on its initial and ill-fated effort to
distribute harm-reduction kits, some residents were not ready for the
shock of a taxpayer-funded agency apparently supporting drug use.

The health authority at that time not only failed to consult with the
city, as required by agreement, but failed to lay an educational
groundwork for residents. Four years along, there is no cogent
argument against such harm-reduction efforts.

In fact, even at that time most residents agreed with the idea of harm
reduction but not the way VIHA went about implementing the plan. It's
easy to see that no harm reduction equates to a rise in infectious
illness and drugrelated deaths.

The few people who argue for enforcement alone, saying the law must be
obeyed, should realize that such an effort would require a budget that
would raise taxes far beyond any civic project.

So far there have been no publicly reported problems with VIHA's
current distribution program. What we don't know is whether program is
troublefree. Given VIHA's track record of handling information that
ought to be public, residents can be excused if they are skeptical
about the health authority.

And residents ought to be vigilant because this program is too
important for VIHA to compromise through missteps. In 2007, they tried
to introduce the program in secret, with no consultation with either
residents or city council.

This year, city social planner John Horn appears to at least be in the
loop, saying he hasn't heard of any concerns.

While it's important for residents to support the program, it's
equally important for VIHA to be accountable and transparent in what
they are doing.

Not disclosing locations of distribution points is understandable.
What is not acceptable is failing to consult residents and businesses
in the area to at least tell them the distribution point is a done
deal.

Since VIHA has in the past, unfortunately, demonstrated an
unwillingness to be accountable and to consult with the community, the
city itself also needs to be vigilant in watching how VIHA conducts
itself in these efforts.

Again, this has to be done to be sure that we have a continuing and
effective harm-reduction program since the most likely threat appears
to come from the way VIHA fails to co-ordinate with
communities.

Harm reduction is now our best fight against addiction. As it goes
forward, we all must recognize its importance, including the agency
implementing it.