ADDICTS, SEX WORKERS AND ACADEMICS DISCUSS CITY 'HARM REDUCTION' POLICY

Michelle Ball isn't clean and sober, and doesn't apologize for a second.

"I continue to be a drug user," said the local HIV educator with the
AIDS Committee of Ottawa. The dirty-blonde mother of one was part of
a panel discussion about the city's harm reduction policies Thursday,
march 8 at Bronson Centre.

"I'm going to be completely honest here," continued the former crack
user-turned social worker. "Most of my drug use was pretty damn fun .
And I still enjoy drugs. I smoke drugs, and I enjoy pharmaceuticals.
It's quite fun. It's like exercise for some people."

A motley collection of former sex workers, drug users and academics
had gathered in the Centre's Nepean Room for a frank discussion on
the City of Ottawa's harm reduction policy and how it relates to
local sex workers.

Organized by local human rights lawyer Yavar Hameed, it featured a
panel drawn from across the activist spectrum - ball was joined by
Carleton University assistant law professor Dawn Moore, Samantha
Smyth of the Canadian National Coalition of experiential women, and
manager of the Vancouver safe injection site program Jeff West.

All agreed mayor Larry O'Brien's pledge to eliminate or scale back
harm reduction programs, which include needle exchanges and the free
distribution of crack pipes, is misguided.

"The war on drugs has been the single greatest factor in historical
spikes of women being incarcerated," said Moore.

When women sex workers are stigmatized, she said, they're forced to
the margins of society. "And life on those margins can be quite
rough," she added. "This creates a culture that disregards a woman's
right to security."

Smyth agreed. She said most women fall into drug dependencies as a
way of dealing with life on the streets, which often leads to sex
work. "From the experience we have, most women get into sex work
first," she said. "They start using drugs as a coping mechanism."

As their addictions ramp up, she said, sex work becomes an even more
appealing option to pay for drugs, and the vicious cycle begins.

The city of Ottawa's current harm reduction policy is predicated on
the assumption that people make questionable moral choices, but that
the end result of such choices - HIV or hepatitis infection, for
example - is a major public health issue that must be addressed.

The city offers a variety of harm reduction programs including health
education, counselling, access to sterile hypodermic needles (along
with their safe disposal), immunizations, blood testing and access to condoms.

The city offers numerous drop-boxes for used needles, and advises
people to drop them off in one-litre plastic containers.

But Moore said the typical "four pillar" approach to combating drug
problems is failing in Ottawa, thanks to an emphasis on law
enforcement to the detriment of other aspects. "So what happens is
the roof collapses and you get an incoherent strategy."

Ball agreed, adding that she was eventually rescued by Ottawa's harm
reduction programs after years on the streets as a cocaine-based drug abuser.

Living a marginalized existence because of her drug use, she said she
didn't know where to turn for help. "Most of the sexual harassment I
received was from cops," she said. "They used my addictions against me.

"But what harm reduction (programs) did for me was, I'm still here,"
she said. "I'm still alive. And I think I deserve to be."