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Read More:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Residents+oppose+methadone+clinic+proposal+troubled+Vancouver/4485919/story.html

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Michael Walsh was 10 when he had his first taste of alcohol. By 12, the Nanaimo native was smoking marijuana, and at 16 he tried cocaine. He describes himself as being in “full-fledged party mode” at 19, drinking heavily and doing coke. He spent the next decade-and-a-half addicted to booze and drugs.

“I would spiral out of control,” Walsh tells the Georgia Straight on the line from Victoria, where he now lives. “I’d lose jobs, lose relationships, and drain my bank account.”

It wasn’t until he was 35 that he made his first attempt at being sober. For several years, he’d be clean for a few months only to relapse again and again, bouncing around from detox centres to counselling sessions to treatment facilities.

Walsh has been sober for more than seven years. He credits LifeRing, a relatively new recovery group, for helping him stay that way. Distinguishing itself from other alcohol and drug-addiction support groups by its secularity, LifeRing was started in Oakland, California, in 1997 by Marty Nicolaus. Walsh, a LifeRing volunteer, is helping to bring it to Vancouver, a city that he says desperately needs it.

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For the rest of the story see …

http://www.straight.com/article-382776/vancouver/lifering-brings-new-approach-combating-drug-and-alcohol-addiction

Source: Georgia Straight

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There has long been a notion that lawmakers cling to when it comes to gambling expansion. Casinos bring crime, that is the fear tactic that legislators use when attempting to stop a casino expansion bill. That notion, however, is being challenged by law enforcement officials.

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Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke spoke at a public hearing Monday night and told of how the department is more concerned with crime stemming from bars and nightclubs than from a casino. It is a theory that many law enforcement officials around the world subscribe to, and their opinion is making it increasingly difficult to stop gaming expansion.

“There has always been a preconceived perception that casinos bring crime,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. “That is simply not the case. There are plenty of areas where crime existed before casinos were build, and the crime figures did not go up after the casinos were operational.”

Violent crime is not the only fear when it comes to new casinos, officials are often concerned about money laundering and loan sharking. With casinos present, loan sharks are always around and willing to lend money to gamblers after they bet themselves into a jam. Still, Lemcke does not see that as a major problem.

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For the rest of the story visit …

http://www.casinogamblingweb.com/gambling-news/casino-gambling/vancouver_cops_claim_casino_gambling_crime_not_as_bad_as_bars_56620.html

Source: www.casinogamblingweb.com

[Excerpt]

As many as 43,000 British Columbians have severe gambling addictions and another 152,000 have “moderate” problems with gambling, a medical health officer told Vancouver city council Monday night.

But Dr. John Carsley said there is no way to accurately determine whether a proposed massive casino expansion in the city would create more addiction problems, because not enough research is being done into the effect of gambling.

“From my view … I find it really impossible to say where on the trajectory, if you want, of problem gambling we might be, here in Vancouver or the Lower Mainland or B.C.”

Carsley, a medical health officer for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, made the comments on the third day of a public hearing into whether the city should allow an expansion of the Edgewater Casino in downtown Vancouver.

[Excerpt]

The minister responsible for gambling says the B.C. government will not force a big new casino on the city of Vancouver.

If city council votes against the proposal that would adjoin BC Place Stadium, the BC Lottery Corporation may look elsewhere to locate the project, Public Safety Minister Rich Coleman said Thursday.

For the rest of the story go here …

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/03/10/bc-casino-coleman.html

Source: www.cbc.ca

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.