Research Position Paper- Hashmeesh

Posted on April 27, 2015 by hashmeesh

Vancouver Giving Away Free Heorin 

Vancouver is one of Canada’s more prominent cities. It is full of tall buildings, flashy cars, superb restaurants, world-class shopping and remarkable cultural diversity. The city can be described as spectacular by nature and is stated to be one of the world’s most livable cities. Through the years Vancouver’s crime and drug problem has been on the rise. The cities docks have become a major port for drugs. Drugs are brought in through the docks to be distributed across North America, but some still stays within the city.

The association between illicit drugs and crime in general has been well established by criminological researchers in Canada” (Dauvergne 2013). Studies show that the drug crime rate in British Columbia (province where Vancouver is located) reports the highest rate of drug offences among the provinces. “In 2007, the total drug crime rate in this province (654 incidents per 100,000 population) was more than double the rate in Saskatchewan, the next highest province” (Dauvergne 2013). Amongst all the cities in British Columbia, Vancouver has around 630 drug related crimes per 100,00 population (about 100 more incidents than the next city).

To fight against these pressing issues Vancouver created a program called Insite. Insite is the only legal supervised drug injection site in North America. At the clinic addicts are able to inject heroin under medical supervision and without any harassment from the law. While at the clinic users receive clean needles, assistance to inject, and free heroin. “Insite also works to connect those individuals to a host of health care services, ranging from primary care to addictions counseling” (Mulvenna).

Vancouver created this program as a treatment program for addicts and as a means to lower the cities drug related crime rate. They express that addicts are more likely to get their fix at the clinic instead of getting it on the streets. The program is supposed be a treatment program for the addicts. But its main goal is to lower the crime and HIV/AIDS rate amongst the city. Vancouver isn’t trying to treat the addicts so they can stop using, they are just trying to stop them from committing crimes and spreading disease.

Addicts are unable to live a normal life. Heroin is a very dangerous and addictive drug that dramatically alters a user’s every day life. Addicts aren’t able to keep a job, which then leads to homelessness. They are unable to be a contributor to society; the drug consumes their life. They will do anything they can to obtain the drug. Actions like this tend to lead to crime such as stealing, breaking into homes and sometimes-even murder.

How are the addicts being treated for addiction if they are still using? “Statistics show that 9,259 individuals visited Insite in 2012. Out of those 9,259 individuals, 4,564 individuals were referred to detox centers” (Vancouver Coastal Health). Only less than half of the individuals using Insite’s services are referred to detox centers. “Of those 4,564 individuals only 488 of them were discharged from Onsite detox” (Vancouver Coastal Health). Insite isn’t too successful with the treatment if only 5% of their patients are referred to and complete a detox program.

There are still some addicts using on the streets and in public. Officers are told to take people they’ve caught using in public, within five blocks away from the clinic to Insite.  Even with the clinic addicts are still using drugs on the streets. Unsafe disposal of syringes, as a result of public drug use, are also a significant community concern. A study explored whether the opening of Insite affected levels of public order. The study found that public order in the area around the facility improved after Insite opened. There were big decreases in the numbers of syringes found in public, injection-related litters like syringe wrappers and people injecting in the area around Insite.

According to Scott Thompson, the Vancouver Police Department’s drug policy coordinator and downtown district commander Vancouver’s crime rate hasn’t seen a decrease. Thompson claims that Insite isn’t helping or hurting, it’s just another variable thrown into a complex mix. A study was conducted comparing the crime rates in the year before Insite opened with the crime rates the year after they opened. The study used data from the Vancouver Police Department on drug trafficking, assaults, robberies, vehicle break-ins, and thefts.

After comparing the data, researchers found no statistically significant changes in rates of drug trafficking (124 incidents before Insite vs. 116 incidents after) or assaults and robberies (147 incidents before Insite vs. 180 incidents after). Due to these changes lack in statistical significance they can’t be attributed to Insite. On the other hand, there was a significant drop in vehicle break-ins and vehicle thefts (302 incidents vs. 227 incidents).

Many of the heroin addicts at some point contract HIV/AIDS. Sharing needles is one of the primary ways that HIV and other blood-borne diseases, such as hepatitis C, are spread. People who use Insite are less likely to share needles. In the streets many addicts seek help from other users when injecting. Some users even ask others to inject them into their jugular. Most of the time this involves sharing needles. At Insite, injection drug users are able to learn the safest ways of injecting. If the addicts can inject safely themselves then they won’t require help from others, and won’t share needles. “A study conducted by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS found that after the facility was opened, the rate of needle sharing in Vancouver dropped from 40 per cent to 1.7 per cent” (Mulvenna). There was also a decline in new cases of both HIV and Hepatitis C and the overall rate of injection drug use had also declined.

Vancouver is doing a good job bettering the city, but what about the well being of the addicts? People that use Insite’s services aren’t being treated for their addictions. They can come in every day and shoot up, never fully getting over their addiction. A long-term drug addict named Kevin Thompson, says he is able to keep a job due to Insite. Now Thompson doesn’t have to go searching for his next fix. He says that without the free heroin he’d have to break into a car or a home. Throughout the day he seems calm and understandable, but still high. These patients are in a constant high and serve as a constant threat not only to the community but also to themselves

In Bradley Campbell’s article ” Vancouver combats heroin by giving its addicts the best smack in the world,” he explains how the city is almost performing some kind of blackmail. In the article Allen Schauffler a Pacific Northwest Correspondent for Al Jazeera states that blackmail is a great way to describe the program. He says, “it’s not designed to get people off the drug” (Campbell). “What it says to these people is, ‘Yep, you are heroin addicts. A certain number of you, the most severely addicted are heroin addicts, you’ll always be heroin addicts, there is no hope of you getting off heroin, therefore let’s provide you with heroin so you are the least dangerous drug addict you can possibly be” (Campbell). “Jim O’Rourke the executive director at the British Columbia-based Vision Quest Recovery Society adds on by saying the city is killing addicts with kindness” (Campbell). Insite is slowly killing their addicts but in a nicer way.

Work cited

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