St. Michael鱿鱼视频app chief medical officer has written the Toronto Board of Health to recommend the city should go ahead with some form of supervised injection services. The board voted July 10 to recommend asking the province to fund pilot program for a safe injection site in the city, as recommended by Toronto鱿鱼视频app Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David McKeown.
McKeown鱿鱼视频app recommendation is based largely on a University of Toronto-St. Michael鱿鱼视频app Hospital study completed last year, which concluded Toronto needed a safe injection site.
St. Michael鱿鱼视频app executive vice president and chief medical officer Dr. Doug Sinclair knows pushing for safe injection is bound to be controversial, but it鱿鱼视频app the kind of thing Toronto鱿鱼视频app urban angel has always done, he said.
鈥淥ur mission really is to advocate for the disadvantaged. That鱿鱼视频app been part of our role since the sisters founded the institution in 1892,鈥� Sinclair said. 鈥淲e certainly believe advocacy, treatment and care of the disadvantaged is part of our job. That鱿鱼视频app why we wrote the letter.鈥�
It鱿鱼视频app going to be an uphill battle, with agreement needed from three levels of government, Sinclair said.
Ethically, safe injection sites are a culture-of-life issue, said Bridget Campion.
鈥淔rom a Catholic perspective, maybe the question we want to ask is how do we care for this very vulnerable and very marginalized patient population?鈥� said the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute researcher and bioethicist. 鈥淟ooking at it from a pro-life, culture-of-life standpoint 鈥� the standpoint of promoting a culture of life 鈥� is absolutely key here.鈥�
The debate over safe injection strategies gets out of balance when people fail to look at it as part of a continuum of care. A well-run safe injection site represents an opportunity to reach and care for an otherwise unreachable portion of the addict population, she said.
鈥淎nd then they will be exposed to counselling, to primary care, to help for other issues that they are likely facing, including poverty, homelessness, mental health issues,鈥� Campion said.
The idea that safe injection sites encourage drug use is not borne out by scientific evidence, said Sinclair.
鈥淗aving a safe injection site doesn鈥檛 mean people are going to say, 鈥榃ell, now I can pick up and start using drugs.鈥� That just doesn鈥檛 happen,鈥� he said.
Many of the people who come to safe injection sites are those who have tried and failed to end their addictions, or are convinced they cannot stop, Sinclair said. At Caritas School of Life, a Catholic ministry to addicts founded by Fr. Gianni Carparelli, its therapeutic community model depends on addicts being ready to deal with their addictions and issues behind their addictions, said executive director Tulio Orlando.
鈥淯nless they鈥檙e ready to buy in, success will be limited,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have to be at that stage in their lives where they鈥檝e tried other programs, 30-day and 60-day, and it just hasn鈥檛 worked for them because it鱿鱼视频app not long-term enough.鈥�
Orlando is cautious about venturing an opinion on safe injection sites for those who wouldn鈥檛 qualify for the Caritas program.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app not our form of therapy. The program we run here is abstinence based,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ver the 30-plus years this organization has been around, it鱿鱼视频app never been something we鈥檝e advocated for. We completely believe our philosophy that abstinence-based therapy is the best therapy.鈥�
At the Good Shepherd on Queen Street East, the Little Brothers of the Good Shepherd send an average of 100 people a year on to treatment, and 97 per cent of those who complete the program go on to sustained sobriety. But for every three people who come to The Good Shepherd, only one will stay with the program long enough to be admitted to treatment. Executive director Br. David Lynch has mixed feelings about a safe injection site, which would be a service to only a small portion of Toronto addicts.
鈥淚鈥檓 a big believer in recovery rather than encouragement,鈥� Lynch said.
There鱿鱼视频app a serious debate that must be had about different forms of harm reduction, but Lynch fears we鈥檙e headed for a debate dominated by alarmism and simplistic formulas.
鈥淲e need a debate, but a debate among professionals working in the field rather than a not-in-my-backyard debate,鈥� he said.
Campion wants a debate about the addicts themselves rather than property values or knee-jerk judgments.
鈥淚f you truly believe in promoting the dignity of all human persons we must weigh in and make sure that drug users are seen as persons who have an essential dignity. They are children of God,鈥� she said.
鈥淎 safe injection site is not necessarily going to cure an addiction, but it is a way of caring for the person in their disease.鈥�