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Expert Panel on Harm Reduction in Victoria

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Part One of a Three Part Series on Harm Reduction in Victoria

by Lisa Nickol, B Channel News

The City of Victoria hosted a forum on March 3, 2010 called “Hometown Harm Reduction”
From the City’s website: “A panel of experts will present information on how Victoria might reduce the harm caused by drug misuse and addiction. The evidence-based approach to the problems will involve discussion with members of the community on how we can help with harm reduction.” The city chambers were filled to capacity. The information provided was not city policy, but aimed to engage the community in discussion on harm reduction.

“When we were first elected we made harm reduction one of our priorities but for a number of reasons we haven’t had a tremendous success in actualizing that priority, and I see tonight as a launching pad for us to take more active steps in the harm reduction area,” said forum host, Philippe Lucas, Victoria City Councillor.

The first speaker, Mark Haden, a Clinical Supervisor from the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority Addiction Services, started by talking about the needle exchange he works at in Carisdale (Vancouver), which he said has received no complaints to date. He then went on to explain harm reduction, and from his experiences and background, put it into context and discussed some of the misconceptions and apprehensions communities can face around having these facilities in their neighbourhood.

Haden told the audience, “There are no disposable people,” and presented a list of action items, stemming from his experiences in Vancouver, for taking steps towards establishing harm reduction in the Greater Victoria Area. Haden suggested that in order for it to work, City Hall would have to have support zoning, be a friendly landlord and there would need to be public education. The police would need to be trained, support drug possession as a low priority crime and not attend drug overdoses without reason when a fixed needle exchange is established.

Bernie Pauly, Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Addictions Research BC at the University of Victoria looked at where Victoria is when it comes to harm reduction. Pauly gave a detailed account on the extent of the work and dedication by various groups and professionals that has occurred to date, and discussed what has and hasn’t resulted in the way of action on creating harm reduction services. “We have not delivered when it comes to harm reduction,” Pauly said.

Don MacPherson, former Drug Policy Coordinator for the City of Vancouver and author of the “Four Pillars Drug Strategy”, thought the process in Victoria, “seems stalled at implementation and even going backwards in terms of the Needle Exchange,” even though he said harm reduction has had the support of 3 city councils and explained their past movement around these services.

MacPherson presented the next day at the City’s Governance and Priorities committee, to make a similar, but more condensed presentation to Mayor and council. (Video of that meeting will be the focus of Part Two of this Three Part B Channel News feature on Harm Reduction.)

Councillor Lucas hopes that council “will get a list of action items that council might be able to do specifically to help improve harm reduction in our community…We need to do more to support it and we need to do more to create the political pressure and make sure it’s going on in our city.”

Not present at the forum was scheduled speaker David Bratzer from the international organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Brazter, a constable with the Victoria Police Department was ordered by Chief Constable Jamie Graham not to speak at the forum (more on this in part Three of this feature.)