SAFE INJECTION SITE ON MAYOR'S MIND

Mayor Alan Lowe wants to make Victoria the 61st safe-injection site in the
world for downtown drug users.

There are currently 60 safe injection facilities, a packed church hall at
St. John the Divine was told by former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen,
credited with leading the fight for safe-injection sites.

In a public meeting held to discuss the "four-pillar" solution to drug
addiction - a strategy that has improved the lot for addicts in Vancouver's
Downtown East Side and elsewhere in the big city - Lowe gave a spirited
speech about the state of the situation in Victoria.

Lowe called the crystal meth problem " a looming crisis in our city" and
one that needs addressing quickly.

"We need to talk to our children and educate them about the dangers of
crystal meth," he said.

One audience member, during the question and answer section of the evening,
pointed out that most parents aren't up on the specifics of the latest
drugs and need to get educated themselves about how to counsel their
children about the issue.

The mayor gave kudos to the Vancouver Island Health Authority for its new
sobering and assessment centre - it's virtually full every night. But he
lamented that of the four pillars - prevention, treatment, enforcement and
harm reduction - prevention is the most difficult one to address.

Many of the agencies that provide counselling and education services are
facing cash crunches in an atmosphere of government cutbacks.

He noted, however, that the city has to take its victories where it can
find them: where there were formerly just two youth detox beds available
for 17 days a month, now there are four beds available 24/7.

He said there are a variety of options out there for dealing with the drug
problem.

"We need to look at a supervised safe injection site as one of those
options," Lowe said. "If there's a political will, I think it will happen."

While not asked specifically whether the province would fund such a site in
Victoria, fledgling Minister of State for Mental Health and Addictions
Susan Brice spoke of "bringing the service to where people are." The
statement had at least one audience member wondering what that actually meant.

Brice's explanation, while delivered with an air of sincerity, gave little
indication that anything more concrete was on the way, be it funding for
additional beds or facilities.

Her reticence to promise much was not lost on the mayor, who made a few
tongue-in-cheek yet pointed comments about needing to work on the
provincial government for more funding to increase the service available to
treat addicts and people with mental health problems.

One speaker noted that the wait for the youth detox centre is six weeks.

Dr. Richard Stanwick, VIHA's senior medical health officer on the South
Island, admitted that to have a true four-pillar style approach to
addictions in the city, more facilities were needed to take up the slack.

When it comes to enforcement, the police aren't slowing down - there were
524 drug-related charges laid in 2003 - but they are changing their
approach in the downtown core.

Lowe said in the past, 70 per cent of the beat officers downtown worked
undercover, which boosted their success rate in arresting drug dealers. In
reaction to calls from businesses and the public to make downtown streets
feel safer, Lowe said the department reversed its emphasis to beat patrol,
putting 70 per cent of its officers into uniform and 30 per cent in
plainclothes.

For his part, Owen was warmly greeted by the crowd, who showed their
appreciation of the courage he showed in shepherding "A Framework for
Action, A Four-Pillar Approach" through Vancouver council and in
spearheading the opening of Canada's first supervised safe injection site
on the Downtown East Side.

Owen seems very at ease talking about the whole process. He should. He
spoke about the four pillar approach as an invited guest in 30 different
communities last year, and is on track to do nearly as many public
appearances in 2004.

A public forum is scheduled for April 28 back at the church when the public
will have a chance to hear and question the manager of Vancouver's safe
injection site.