NOT HEROIN OR OUT

Vancouver's proposed safe injection sites are definitely a step in the
right direction, but they do nothing to undermine the thriving black market.

Because street heroin is unregulated, its quality and purity fluctuate
tremendously. An addict accustomed to low-quality heroin who unknowingly
uses near-pure heroin will likely overdose. Am I suggesting that heroin
should be legalised and sold in convenience stores? Contrary to what
tough-on-drugs politicians would have the public believe, there is a middle
ground between legalisation and drug prohibition.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce
drug-related disease, death and crime, and are currently being replicated
in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Providing chronic addicts with
standardised doses in a treatment setting eliminates much of the problems
associated with heroin use. Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for
zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they
be committing crimes if not for artificially-inflated illicit market prices.

If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised crime
of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking
unprofitable, and spare future generation's addiction. Harm reduction
interventions have the potential to reduce the perils of both drug use and
drug prohibition.

Putting public health before politics may send the wrong message to
children, but I like to think the children themselves are more important
than the message.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A. Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance