REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING - MARCH 26, 2002
MOTION B.5

5. Vancouver City Council Support for National Harm Reduction Pilot Project (File: 4113)

At the Council meeting of March 12, 2002, Councillor Louis submitted the following Notice of Motion, which was recognized by the Chair.

MOVED by Councillor Louis
SECONDED by Councillor Bass

WHEREAS, on May 15, 2001, City Council:

(a) adopted the revised Framework for Action: A Four Pillar Approach to Drug Problems in Vancouver as the basis for the City's continuing effort to work with the provincial and federal governments and the community to address the issue of substance misuse in Vancouver.

(b) asked that an implementation plan be drafted with defined goals aimed at specific outcomes, including reduced drug-induced deaths, reduced drug-induced morbidity and reduced drug-related crime (that includes: lowering drug-related deaths, reducing the occurrence of HIV in IV-drug-users, and lowering the frequency of drug-related robberies);

AND WHEREAS, according to the revised Framework for Action, the number of illicit drug deaths in Vancouver averaged 147 per year from 1994 to 2000;

AND WHEREAS, the third goal of the revised Framework for Action states that the City should work towards addressing the drug-related health crisis in Vancouver by reducing harm to communities and individuals;

AND WHEREAS, the revised Framework for Action notes that harm reduction is a pragmatic approach that focuses on decreasing the negative consequences of drug use for communities and individuals. Moreover, it recognizes that abstinence-based approaches are limited in dealing with a street-entrenched open drug scene;

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AND WHEREAS, according to a December 2000 McIntyre and Mustel poll commissioned by the City of Vancouver, over 70 per cent of Vancouver residents surveyed supported establishing a task force to consider the feasibility of a scientific medical project to develop safe drug consumption facilities in Vancouver and in other appropriate areas in the country in order to reduce health risks and minimize open drug scenes, such as we have in the Downtown Eastside;

AND WHEREAS, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, drug abuse is a major problem in many Canadian municipalities, and in some communities, more than 70 per cent of all local crime can be traced to substance misuse;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, City Council support Mayor Philip Owen and other Federation of Canadian Municipalities Big City Mayor Caucus members' efforts to initiate a multi-city pilot program in partnership with Health Canada to carry out scientific trials of supervised safe drug consumption facilities.

Referred

Also before Council was correspondence dated March 25, 2002, from the Collingwood Community Policing Centre requesting to speak on the Motion.

The Chair advised consideration of the Motion will be referred to a future Standing Committee meeting to hear speakers.

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver