Drugs: Medical ethicist says safe injection locations 'brilliant' at preventing overdose deaths

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APRIL ROBINSON
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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SAINT JOHN - There would be no downside to setting up a safe injection site in Saint John, says a medical ethicist and board member of AIDS Saint John.

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Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal

The federal government, medical ethicist Tim Christie says, ‘has no legitimate reason to object to safe injection sites.’

"People might debate whether Saint John needs one or not, but I would say there's no harm in having one," said Tim Christie, associate professor in bioethics at Dalhousie University and a lecturer at the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

"They're brilliant at preventing people from dying of overdose deaths. They're brilliant at linking people with other treatments."

In 2009, 18 substance abusers in Saint John died while on a waiting list for treatment, Christie said.

"We want to keep people alive while they're on these wait lists and the supervised injection site is a great way of doing that," he said.

There are only two safe injection sites in North America - both located in Vancouver. An injection site provides a sanitary environment for addicts to inject opiate drugs such as heroin or Dilaudid under medical supervision.

"It would help us access a hidden population of patients that don't normally access health services and to get a better handle of what the community needs," Christie said. "I know the community need is there."

The federal government announced Wednesday it would apply to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a recent decision by the B.C. Court of Appeal on the operation of InSite in Vancouver.

InSite had been operating under a temporary exemption to federal drug control laws until it won a permanent exemption from the B.C. Supreme Court. The federal government appealed that decision.

"The ruling as it is now is significant," Christie said. "The federal government now has no legitimate reason to object to safe injection sites. If the Supreme Court concurred, that would be a national standard."

While Saint John's drug problem is no where close to the extent of Vancouver's, there is an opportunity now to tackle the problem while it is manageable, Christie said.

He estimates there are 750 people in Saint John who could use methadone treatment and could therefore use the safe injection site.

Last year, AIDS Saint John gave out more than 200,000 clean needles, which means 200,000 injections could have been supervised in a safe environment, Christie said.

"If you look around, a lot of smaller places might be in denial on the issue, but that doesn't mean they don't have it," Christie said.

"It's a huge problem in Saint John."

A methadone clinic opened uptown last August after Christie and other community leaders such as Saint John Police Chief Bill Reid pushed for another treatment option other than Ridgewood Addiction Services.

Methadone is a drug used treat opiate addicts.

The clinic at St. Joseph's Community Health Centre does not offer counselling, but provides referrals to other services.

A safe injection site is different because it helps drug addicts who are not yet ready for treatment but still at risk of overdose death.

No one has ever died at any of the world's 60 safe injection sites, many of which are in Europe, Christie said.

The some 750 addicts who could use a safe injection site in Saint John would use drugs regardless of the location, he said.

"These people would otherwise inject drugs in secret, in hiding, in unsanitary conditions," he said. "A logical alternative is for you to inject drugs in a hygienic environment under medical supervision, so if something goes wrong, we can assist you."

Julie Dingwell, the executive director of AIDS Saint John, said she agrees there would be no downside to setting up a safe injection site, but said she would also like to see the province tackle the issue of drug treatment.

Drugs users are a stigmatized group that people don't like to think about, she said. But they cost taxpayers - whether it's through health care, jail time, or child and family services.

Experts say treating an addict costs between $6,000 and $10,000 a year, while an untreated addict can cost society an average of $49,000 a year, just to process the person through the justice system.

"I think it's a discussion, a dialogue and it's to get people talking about injection drug use," Dingwell said. "How many hundreds of people aren't able to access treatment right now and what are we going to do about that?

"You can't just wait."