By Rebecca Groen (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 23, 2011
InSite, a supervised drug injection site in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, has been around since September 2003 and is the only one of its kind in North America. Addicts can go there to inject themselves with their pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of nurses who can provide them with clean needles, tourniquets, cookers, water and syringes. If an overdose occurs, trained staff will be there to intervene. Currently there are over 12,000 users registered at InSite.
Though controversial in nature, there has been a lot of support for InSite. It operates on a harm-reduction approach which means it “strives to decrease the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use.” Minster of BC Health Kevin Falcon has said that “this is a program that has received very widespread independent medical journal support for the outcomes and the efforts they are making on a medical basis to treat some of the most difficult addicts you can imagine…” Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson has said “The science in favour of InSite is clear, and as long as we have people suffering from addiction on our streets we need harm reduction options in place.” Spokesman for InSite Mark Townsend also sees the benefits, saying that “before this place opened, people were dropping dead all over the place.”
According to the Supervised Injection Site webpage, overdoses in the area around InSite have decreased by 35 per cent and overall in Vancouver city there has been a nine per cent decrease.
While it was the Liberal government that allowed InSite to open, this approach has been under some harsh criticism from the Conservative government in recent years. Prime Minister Steven Harper was quoted as saying, “We as a government will not use taxpayers’ money to fund drug use.” However, after several lawsuits regarding InSite and its legal implications regarding drug trafficking, “the Supreme Court of British Columbia struck down the provisions of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that deal with possession and trafficking…”
Why was this action chosen?
The judge presiding over the case made it clear that InSite is not just a safe zone for users to come, inject their drugs with clean equipment, and leave. Each user is assessed before being registered. They must be 16-years-of-age or older, comply with a certain code of conduct upon their visits, and not bring in any children. Pregnant women undergo a more thorough assessment. Pregnant users are referred to clinics and daycares managed by the Health Authority. These places provide pre- and post-natal care to pregnant women who are active users.
The second floor of InSite’s building is home to a facility known as Onsite, which opened September 2007. Onsite is a place where users who are ready to go through withdrawal management can come to detoxify. A trained team of health professionals comprised of doctors, nurses, counsellors and mental health workers will be on staff to aid with this process. Those who are homeless or who don’t want to return to an environment where drug use happens can stay temporarily on the third floor of this building and be connected further with community support and treatment programs.
InSite seems to have many pros associated with it, but there are cons as well. This is not a black and white issue as many would like to see it classified. There are moral implications to what is being done. Are we merely enabling a life of “safe” addiction and drug usage for people within Vancouver? Would it be wiser to put the money spent on InSite and its support workers towards helping addicts permanently deal with their problems? On the other hand, if InSite were not to exist, the lives of many people would be in danger due to drug addiction. Popular public opinion seems to see InSite as an answer to the problem posed in the latter, but with an issue as sensitive and uncomfortable as drug addiction, it is appropriate to weigh all the consequences before coming to a conclusion.
