Drugs are destructive, but what should we do with that assertion when faced with the reality of drug addiction in the Downtown Eastside?

In September of 2003 Health Canada granted Vancouver Coastal Health an exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and provided $500 000 per year to operate the InSite Safe Injection Site (SIS) pilot project. This is the first SIS in North America and as such is at the centre of much debate. Though there are many who argue for the necessity of the Vancouver SIS, including local businesses, resident advocacy groups, addicts, and many police officers, the Conservative government has ‘deferred the decision’ on the future of this SIS in Vancouver until December 2007.

The most important thing to remember is that at its center, this debate is not about left/right politics or prevention vs. enforcement cost analysis. Rather, it is about how we as a society view and respond to a group of people who find themselves in the most desperate of situations.

In conversation with many of my fellow students and staff at Trinity Western University, I have been confronted with a mixture of ignorance and arrogance surrounding this issue. The main objection that seems to arise against providing a safe location for addicts to inject is the accompanying loss of consequence for their actions. Whatever their case may be, I highly doubt that addicts who choose to shoot up at InSite are going to be escaping the consequences of their actions and lifestyle.

It seems to me that the only consequence that an addict is possibly escaping when they choose to inject at InSite is an overdose fatality. The advocates of this project point to the fact that there have been 453 overdoses in their facility (April ‘04 – March ‘06) and no fatalities. Overdose fatalities are an all too common part of an addict’s life, with Vancouver averaging 147 illicit drug overdose deaths annually since 1993. I suggest that anyone opposed to this SIS go and witness firsthand the repercussions of drug addiction.

A few days prior to SLO-week I was such a witness; I found myself calling 9-1-1 as I watched a helpless woman writhe on the ground in the middle of a back alley in the downtown Eastside. As I stared into the vacuum of her eyes begging and praying for help I saw the truth of this issue. When the hypothetical is replaced with a human face, one is suddenly forced to dramatically reevaluate one’s views. This issue must be guided by compassion and hope. If these people are past hope, let them die. But I believe they aren’t, and as such we should be fighting for their lives. Drugs are wrong; yet apathy towards those around us who suffer and die is much, much worse.