By Daniel Jordan
The battle over harm reduction initiatives in Vancouver is looking to heat up with new results of a clinical prescription heroin trial. With the federal government already questioning the efficacy of needle exchange programs and safe injection sites such as Insite in Vancouver’s Downtown East SIde.
Background
In news today, North America Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), a Vancouver-based agency, is set to release the results of a trial drug program that provided prescription heroin to addicts. This clinical trial started 3 years ago at the University of British Columbia and Universite de Montreal and involved 251 heroin addicts who had failed previous addiction treatment attempts.
Funding was provided through a federal research grant of $8.1 million through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Although the results of the findings were orginally scheduled to be released on September 17, critics say the results are being withheld due to the current federal election.
The prescription heroin trial ended in June, 2008.
The Need to Put Vancouver’s Downtown East Side in Perspective
The prescription heroin clinical trial is another example of an attempt by policy makers, researchers, as well as medical, mental health and addiction professionals to address the health and social crisis that exists in the Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. While drug problems exist across Canada, the Downtown East Side presents a special challenge with its clustered poverty, homelessness, public health issues, prostitution, mental illness, and addiction.
Harm Reduction advocates rightly contend that safe injection sites and prescribed heroin are just two of an array of measures designed to reduce the negative impact of injection drug use. Such programs are not, as opponents contend, meant to make it easier for addicts to continue on with their addiction.
The Need for Harm Reduction Advocates to Get Organized
With a divided and often uniformed public, it may be necessary for harm reduction proponents to organize and be heard. Whenever new addiction/mental health/public health initiatives are under attack, a quick response to public criticism is necessary. Part of this quick response is to remind the public that harm reduction measures such as prescription heroin are designed not for their communities but for residents of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side where HIV/AIDS/HEPC is a major public health issue and other treatment approaches have failed.
