Centre leading international discussion on harm reduction

published on March 23, 2006

Recent international recognition highlights the Centre is taking a leadership role in harm-reduction research and evaluation

The International Harm Reduction Association appointed Centre Drs. Evan Wood and Thomas Kerr to lead discussion on illicit drug use in urban settings. The duo were chosen as guest editors of a special issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy, the IRHA’s official publication. The special issue -- “Cities and drugs: responding to drugs in the City of Vancouver” – will serve the association’s upcoming 17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm, to be held April 30-May 4 in Vancouver.

The international recognition underlines the importance of the Centre’s harm-reduction work, says Wood.

“Our research into harms associated with drug use informs not just policy in B.C. cities, but urban areas around the world,” says Wood.

While the journal highlights Vancouver, the discussion is really international in scope, stresses Kerr.

“Vancouver really just serves as a case study, although the city is very progressive in its approach to harm reduction,” says Kerr, referring to the city’s Four Pillars approach of treatment, prevention, enforcement and harm reduction.

Wood and Kerr solicited from community stakeholders, as well as commentary from around the world, including Australia, Sweden, the U.S. and Argentina. The articles provide insight from authors representing health care, the legal sector, housing services and law enforcement. Several articles are penned by Centre researchers.

Kerr and Wood’s introductory editorial – What do you do when you hit rock bottom? -- outlines the evolution of the City of Vancouver’s drug policies, informed in large part by trends in the city’s drug and sex trade epicentre - the Downtown Eastside (DTES). The authors highlight the city’s former law-enforcement-heavy approaches to curbing drug trafficking during the early 1990s played a significant role in the increase of needle-sharing for intravenous drug use and subsequent rates of HIV incidence. By 1997, the local health authority declared a public health emergency as the DTES drug and sex trade economies had reached their peak.

Vancouver only revisited its drug policies when it really hit rock bottom, explains Wood.

“At that point in time, the province was experiencing nearly one over-dose per day, and many of these deaths were not restricted to the DTES,” says Wood. “Arriving at the city’s current controversial Four Pillars strategy came from experiences of persistent failure with conventional drug control approaches.”

The issue’s articles include: Harm reduction by a “user-run” organization; The role of drug users in influencing municipal drug policy; Impacts of intensified police activity on injection drug users; If enforcement is not working, what are the alternatives?; The impact of unregulated single room occupancy hotels on the health status of illicit drug users; and, Strategies for preventing harm from psychoactive substance use.

For more information on IHRA or its journal, visit www.ihra.net. For conference details, visit www.harmreduction2006.ca

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Centre leading international discussion on harm reduction

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