This letter from our President, Gwen Landolt, was sent, as well, to the Globe and Mail.
Letter to the Editor
Ottawa Citizen
1101 Baxter Road
Box 5020
Ottawa, ON K2C 3M4
Your editorial in support of the Vancouver drug injection site (May 7, 2011) appears to be based on the advocacy research provided by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS rather than on an objective appraisal of the site.
The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has authored two dozen research papers on the site with every one showing positive results. These studies have long been criticized for methodological and analytical problems.
That organization’s most recent study, referred to in your editorial, claims that the overdose deaths in the immediate area of the site has declined by 35% since it opened in 2003. This is contradicted by the statistics released by the British Columbia Selected Vital Statistics and Health Status Indicators, Annual Reports, which state that the number of deaths from drug overdose in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has increased each year (with one exception) since the site opened in 2003 in relation to drug overdose results in the rest of the province.
An objective appraisal of the site was carried out by the Expert Advisory Panel which stated in it’s report released in March 2008, that only 5% of addicts use the site and that even of those who do use it, less than 10% use it for all their injections. It also stated that the site refers only 2.7% of its clients for treatment – the latter being the only way the addict can recover from the addiction. This approach is preferable to that offered by the site which only deepens the terrors of addiction.
Yours truly
C. Gwendolyn Landolt
President
Drug Prevention Network of Canada
