Canada - 'Safe site' backers point to potential tax savings

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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'Safe site' backers point to potential tax savings
Robert Bostelaar
Ottawa Citizen
August 5th, 2014

Advocates of government-sanctioned injection sites for drug users have a new argument for opening such facilities in Ottawa: a potential saving to taxpayers of at least $1 million a year.

The figure appears in a study published this week that compares the estimated cost of operating two medically supervised injection sites with the health care savings of averting nine HIV infections and 88 hepatitis C infections drug users could otherwise get from sharing dirty needles.

Lead researcher Ehsan Jozaghi of Simon Fraser University said in an interview Tuesday that the findings present “strong arguments for having these facilities in Ottawa to prevent HIV and hepatitis C infections, which cost the health care system millions of dollars a year.”

A coalition of supporters for Ottawa sites hopes the prospective savings will catch the attention of those who so far have felt removed from the contentious issue of safe injection sites. North America has just one facility, a Vancouver storefront called Insite, and federal and provincial politicians have rejected calls to open similar clinics in other Canadian cities.

In Ottawa, Mayor Jim Watson and Police Chief Charles Bordeleau are opposed to the creation of a supervised injection site.
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Read the full story here.
 
They need to publish these things because the public needs dollar justification. Saving X number of junkies from death every year doesn't matter, you can save money. It's political suicide to support safe injection sites outside of BC. No mayor is going to, and the public if given a choice would vote no. And if asked if they want it in their neighborhood you can bet it would be over 80 percent saying hell no. It is going to need to be forced on people. Maybe we need some stories of kids stepping on needles in Canadian parks to get our message thru.
 
my3rdeye said:
It's political suicide to support safe injection sites outside of BC. No mayor is going to...
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I was recently reading that in Montreal the mayor supports the opening of supervised inject sites and their public health agency has already come up with a plan to open several of them in the city.
 
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ro4eva said:
Any idea when the first one is opening?
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No idea, the red tape stretches for miles I'm sure. And then there's the proposed bill from the Conservatives that's supposed to block any new sites from opening...
 
I remember the outrage from citizens when a safe injection site was being proposed in Victoria the same way Vancouver has one. The citizens didn't want drugs addicts put in the open for them to see they want them in the shadows and that's not right how will they get help if they are hidden from society.

I think its sick people need to see dollar figures to justify helping drug addicts in these ways but that's the kind of world we live in. Hopefully every province can get a few of these in problem areas. I've seen needles all over parks and such around here when a safe injection site would have helped stop that kind of stuff from happening.
 
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trainspotter10102 said:
I think its sick people need to see dollar figures to justify helping drug addicts in these ways but that's the kind of world we live in. Hopefully every province can get a few of these in problem areas. I've seen needles all over parks and such around here when a safe injection site would have helped stop that kind of stuff from happening.
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It is very sickening, and hypocritical, and at the same time ironic, because without us many of them would be out of a job.

They don't want an InSite opening up, but no one cares about all the bars which get people loaded with booze - a neurotoxin, hepatotoxin, and cardiotoxin at high doses, and, a Group 1 Carcinogen at any amount. Plus, did I mention the potential for violence, death, and accidents which arises from the consumption of alcoholic beverages?
 
Yes I hear you I just don't see how people can think its right to continue pushing addicts into the shadows instead of trying to help them. Insite helps save many they haveany experienced people there who can help you find veins you never knew existed before you start taking risks such as injecting into your genitals or neck.
 
trainspotter10102 said:
Yes I hear you I just don't see how people can think its right to continue pushing addicts into the shadows instead of trying to help them. Insite helps save many they haveany experienced people there who can help you find veins you never knew existed before you start taking risks such as injecting into your genitals or neck.
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Sorry about that, it was a rhetorical question (you can tell I'm from Canada - "sorry," LOL) - but yeah you're absolutely correct in my opinion.

InSite has provided Vancouver's street drug-using minority with a safe place to consume their drug of choice. A place where there is virtually no risk of contracting any diseases typically associated with intravenous (or even intramuscular) substance usage. It is also a place where they have the enormous peace of mind of not having to worry about dieing from an overdose due to the substance either being adulterated with a dangerous or potent drug, or due to the substance being far more pure and/or potent, or simply because they 'eyeballed' too much and their tolerance level wasn't high enough to handle the significantly increased dosage. And I'm sure there's other examples which I haven't listed, but I digress.

If an InSite were to open in all of Canada's major cities or urban centers - such as Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, and Edmonton (among others) - I'm willing to bet my left kidney that it would have a HUGE impact on new cases of HIV, Hep C, etc, as well as deaths from overdoses, and of course arrests of non-violent individuals caught in possession of a controlled substance for personal use.
 
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