The harm reduction model of drug addiction treatment | Mark Tyndall
Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health expert Mark ...
========== I remember the first time
that I saw people injecting drugs. I had just arrived in Vancouver
to lead a research project in HIV prevention in the
infamous Downtown East Side. It was in the lobby of the Portland Hotel, a supportive housing
project that gave rooms to the most marginalized
people in the city, the so-called "difficult to house." I'll never forget the young woman
standing on the stairs repeatedly jabbing herself with a needle,
and screaming, "I can't find a vein," as blood splattered on the wall. In response to the desperate
state of affairs, the drug use, the poverty, the violence,
the soaring rates of HIV, Vancouver declared a public
health emergency in 1997. This opened the door to
expanding harm reduction services, distributing more need...