Ithaca looks to Vancouver on drug policy; focus on treatment over enforcement

published on February 20, 2016 by KYLE FRIEND, in The Ithaca Voice

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- When Liberal Party candidate Justin Trudeau was elected Prime Minister of Canada last October, Maxine Davis breathed a sigh of relief.

Years of Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had placed the long-term future of the Dr. Peter Centre, the first facility in North America to offer supervised injections for drug users, in limbo.

Since 2002, the non-profit HIV/AIDS clinic led by Davis had, in violation of federal law, offered the controversial service in which medically-trained professionals supervise drug injectors -- typically heroin users, although fentanyl use is becoming increasingly common -- to ensure they remain safe through a strategy known as “harm reduction.”

But the Conservatives’ Minister of Health, Davis says, continuously refused to sign for the Centre what is called a “Section 56 exemption” to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

“[The Conservatives] were not at all in support of supervised injections,” Davis said, which is why that crucial exemption -- which exempts nurses who observe the injection of illegal drugs from being criminally charged -- went unapproved.

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Ithaca looks to Vancouver on drug policy; focus on treatment over enforcement

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