NO EASY ANSWERS TO DOWNTOWN'S DRUG 'PROBLEM'

When it comes to dealing with problems related to intravenous drug use,
concerned residents often call for increased effort from police and city
bylaw officials.

But for the people who deal directly with Victoria's IV drug community,
stepping up enforcement is a band-aid solution that does little to address
the root of the problem.

"IV drug use, in my opinion, is an illness and it needs to be treated as
such," said police Sgt. Darren Laur, who has close to 10 years of
street-level policing experience in Victoria.

"Until we have the support systems and the medical help in place, it's not
going to get any better. You can throw as much enforcement as you want at
this problem in the downtown core and it's not going to fix the problem."

In recent weeks, a number of Fernwood residents have joined forces to
address what they see as a growing IV drug problem in their neighbourhood,
but the city of Victoria's social planner, Wendy Zink, said the problem is
not just Fernwood's.

"I don't know if (IV drug use) is increasing, but it's definitely more
evident than it was," she said. "It seems to have moved and become more
open. People are reporting injection drug use in parkades and alcoves and
downtown back alleys, around Centennial Square and the industrial area
between Douglas and Bay streets."

Noting that the number of reports started increasing "six or eight months
ago, Zink suggested that a shortage of housing may have forced more IV drug
users onto the street.

"Certainly Victoria has a lack of affordable shelter and a high vacancy
rate," she said. "The market became very tight in May, June and July,
around the same time we noticed this change."

Laur, however, stressed that visible IV drug users form a small percentage
of the overall population.

"We have to be careful about not to pigeonhole these people," he said.
"People tend to associate IV drug use with the street population and I can
tell you from my experience many of them hold down jobs and wear business
suits. You would never guess they are addicts," he said. "I would argue
that a lot of the needles you see downtown are dropped by a core group of
12 to 14 hardcore drug users."

Most of the discarded paraphernalia turns up within a "four or five block
radius around the corner of Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue, which police
refer to a ground zero for the sale and distribution of hard drugs.

Laur said the biggest change he's noticed among IV drug users in Victoria
is not so much an increase in overall numbers, but a demographic shift
toward younger addicts."

"I don't think it's increasing per se, but I've seen a spike in the age
group where it's more common to see individuals in their mid to late teens
that have an IV drug addiction," he said. There are now people downtown who
are 15 or 16. They're selling and they're also addicts. That's a big
change." Linda Poffenroth, deputy medical health officer for the Vancouver
Island Health Region, estimated that Victoria is home to between 1,500 and
2,000 IV drug users but noted it's difficult to accurately gauge the scope
of the problem.

"Obviously these are rough estimates - this isn't a group of people where
we can get a census. It's mostly based on anecdotal reports from people who
have been here longer," she said.

"I've been here six years and I've seen a real growth in injection drug
use. For a city this size we certainly do have a lot of IV drug users. It's
certainly a significant problem."

Canada should consider following the lead of European countries such as
Germany, which provide addicts with safe injection sites and health care
services to help them kick the habit, Poffenroth said.

"Take a city like Frankfurt, where they have developed a continuity of care
with safe injection sites that offer nursing care and help addicts get
something to eat and find a place to live," she said. "We haven't done that
in North America and I think it's something we really need to look at."

However, Poffenroth admitted that many Canadians still find the concept of
safe injection sites difficult to accept.

"Part of the message we need to be getting across to people is that
providing safe injection sites should not be confused with condoning drug
use," she said. "It's a very complicated issue. Since these activities are
illegal, people are stigmatized and marginalized.

"We have to recognize that people who are on drugs are ill."

In recent months, Poffenroth said the IV drug problem seems to have shifted
away from the downtown core.

"In the last six to eight months addicts have moved out of downtown for a
variety of reasons, and many of the people selling the drugs have moved as
well," she said.

Zink said the Victoria Police's policy of banning repeat offenders from the
downtown "red zone," may be part of the reason for the shift.

Some Fernwood residents have also blamed the proliferation of discarded
needles and other drug paraphernalia on the recent relocation of Victoria's
needle exchange from downtown to Cormorant Street near the Victoria Police
station.

But Poffenroth suggested that the situation would be much worse without
services like the needle exchange.

"If you talk to the needle exchange, they've been giving out and getting
back about 500,000 rigs a year," Poffenroth said.

"There's a huge benefit to the community with addicts using that many clean
needle and bringing back that many dirty ones."