ABBOTSFORD IS 'IGNORING' ITS ADDICTS

Abbotsford city council is trailing behind some nearby jurisdictions when
it comes to addressing intravenous drug addicts.

Last month, councillors voted to ban further harm reduction measures, such
as methadone clinics and needle exchanges for intravenous drug users. The
city has one part-time methadone clinic downtown.

Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s chief medical officer, said the province supports
programs that provide clean needles and methadone treatment for addicts.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence gathered from around the world
that shows harm reduction strategies save lives and keep control of HIV and
hepatitis-C infection rates, he said.

"We support prevention, treatment and harm reduction because it reduces
illicit drug use. We support needle exchanges because there is a vast body
of evidence that show it reduces infection rates of HIV," Kendall said.

Abbotsford may be one of 30 councils in the Lower Mainland Municipalities
Association that rejects harm reduction strategies. In the LMMA's 2001
regional action plan regarding the misuse of drugs and alcohol, harm
reduction is included as one of its goals.

"Free-standing methadone clinics are perfectly acceptable. If you get
people on methadone they're healthier and more stable and tend not to get
HIV and hep-C. It's a cost-effective way of having people in treatment,"
said Kendall.

In response to Abbotsford's stand against harm reduction Kendall said,
"They're simply ignoring all the information from respected bodies of
medical science from around the world."

In more ways than harm reduction strategies pay off, Kendall says. The cost
to taxpayers to have an addict on methadone is $5,000 to

$6,000 per year. In contrast, an active heroin addict on the street costs

society $40,000, while the lifetime costs to treat a person infected with
HIV is at least $150,000, he said.

Untreated addicts cause far more problems in a community than people who
are in treatment, in terms of crime, social problems, intoxicification,
illness and hospital costs.

"To insist that [addicts] should stop taking methadone, knowing it would be
detrimental to them, it is to my mind unethical and immoral," Kendall said.

"We see addiction as a chronic relapsing condition. Addiction needs to be
seen as an illness, rather than a moral failure," Kendall said.

Abstinence is fine, he said, but it has a "very, very high relapse rate"
and is effective for about 10 per cent of addicts, so there has to
treatment alternatives.