SAFE INJECTION SITES ONE SOLUTION

Supporting drug addicts and the call for safe injection sites cost Philip
Owen his job.

As the debate over harm reduction heated in Vancouver just weeks before
last fall's civic election, and knowing he'd lost his own party's support
to run again, the three-term mayor left municipal politics and is now
championing the cause for drug reform in this country.

"We've got to do something. We've got to manage it. It's a bold step," Owen
said Monday during a press conference in Kamloops.

The press conference came just days before the local showing of the
documentary film Fix: The Story of an Addicted City, in which Owen is one
of the key players.

The film, shot over 18 months, journeys through the drug debate in
Vancouver, and, more specifically, the call for a safe injection site for
the downtown Eastside.

During his nine years as mayor, Owen said he realized the city had a
growing problem with crack cocaine, one which couldn't be resolved by
traditional means.

Further criminalization, he said, is not the answer, nor is liberalization.
The answer, he believes, is in better management through harm-reduction
approaches such as safe injection sites.

"All we're trying to do is engage in discussion. My job is to bring
awareness of this problem, try to get people to think differently. Thinking
differently means viewing the drug user as 'sick' and the drug dealer as
'evil'."

A safe injection site may not necessarily be the answer for Kamloops, says
film director Nettie Wild, but it's clear Kamloops, like all communities in
British Columbia, has a drug problem.

She hopes her film will get people to talk about the "unspeakable."

Owen hopes it will lead to a public revolution, where people will pressure
the provincial and federal governments to make a change in how they deal
with drug addiction.

While injection sites provide a supervised place for addicts to inject
their drugs safely, they're also intended as a place where addicts make
contact with health professionals who will be there the moment they choose
to seek treatment. Owen concedes many more dollars need to be put into
treatment to ensure it's available on demand.

Fix: The Story of an Addicted City, is playing tonight and Thursday at the
Paramount Theatre at 7 p.m. A community forum will follow each show.