Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: February 19, 2003
Author/Local: Donald MacPherson/6040
RTS No. 3244
CC File No. 4113CS&B: February 27, 2003
TO:
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM:
Drug Policy Coordinator, Community Services Group
SUBJECT:
Supervised Injection Sites Research Pilot Project
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT, in recognition that the situation for injection drug users and the community in the inner city continues to be a public health emergency requiring immediate action and that senior governments are now moving quickly to enable a medical response to the situation requiring timing coordination by local authorities and the City, Council instructs staff to expedite the permitting process for the establishment at several locations where significant public drug use occurs, of a time-limited pilot research project for supervised injection in Vancouver.
B. THAT Council instruct the Drug Policy Coordinator, in consultation with the General Manager of Community Services and the Director of Planning to report back in fall 2003 on the progress of the pilot research project for injection sites in Vancouver, including mitigation that has been taken on any community impacts that may have emerged.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
On May 15, 2001, City Council passed the Framework for Action: A Four Pillar Approach to Drug Problems in Vancouver, which outlined 36 actions including the establishment of a committee lead by Health Canada to consider the implementation of a scientific research project of supervised injection sites in Vancouver.
On May 2, 2002, City Council moved support for a multi-city pilot program in partnership with Health Canada to carry out scientific trials of supervised injection sites, that Federal and Provincial governments be told that improved access to detox and treatment be a priority for Vancouver and that staff report back on supervised injection site implementation and the integration of these sites with current treatment and enforcement strategies.
BACKGROUND
The situation with regard to injection drug use in the inner city continues to present significant risks to injection drug users and cause considerable concern to residents and businesses in Vancouver's Downtown and Downtown Eastside areas. While some progress has been made in reducing health risks for injection drug users, external variables such as a post-Taliban, Afghanistan heroin crop that may hit Vancouver in the coming months, requires a readiness to implement potentially life saving interventions. For several years now there has been broad public discussion regarding the implementation of trial supervised injection sites in Vancouver as one part of a comprehensive response to prevent deaths and disease transmission and reduce the harm of injection drug use to our community in general.
On January 3, 2003, Health Canada released guidelines for applying for an exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for a scientific purpose for a pilot supervised injection site research project. These guidelines provide the legal framework within which supervised injection sites can operate in Canada.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) is leading a multi-sectoral process that will identify possible sites for supervised injection sites in Vancouver. An application to Health Canada will be submitted in the coming weeks requesting an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for the purpose of a scientific research pilot project of supervised injection sites. The application will identify operational protocols for injection sites to be considered by Health Canada. It must also identify locations for any proposedsites with confidence that the research program can commence at these locations immediately upon approval.
DISCUSSION
Due to the urgency of the situation and the requirement to have sites tied down when applications to senior governments are made, it is essential that development permit approval under the Zoning and Development By-Law happen as quickly and directly as possible for the several sites where the initial research pilot will be conducted.
A site may not need Development Permit approval if already in operation as a health care office or hospital. Otherwise, if permission is needed, it is most expeditious that an application is considered by the Director of Planning with appropriate but expedited technical evaluation and basic public notification. This is justifiable since the research pilot is a temporary emergency initiative that will be the subject of intensive oversight by all governments.
There is considerable agreement that several sites are required in Vancouver at the outset of the research project, both from the perspective of minimizing community impact at the street level, and to provide sufficient contact with the injection drug using populations for research purposes. To this end, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is conducting a search of suitable locations for injection sites in the Downtown Eastside and Downtown areas where injection drug use is a significant activity, particularly in public places.
For the purposes of the initial scientific research pilot project, an expedited permitting process should reflect several basic principles:
· ensure that permits are truly temporary and not renewable nor made permanent without new applications and full public review process;
· ensure basic provisions for health and safety; and
· ensure basic provisions for community contact during start-up and for on-going support for the community to deal with any emerging problem as fast as possible.In contrast, if the pilot research project proves successful and this use is to become an ongoing use in the City, it should be regularized in the Zoning and Development By-law as a conditional use. Thereafter, all sites, including those used for the temporary research pilot, would require permits for a permanent installation (except for health care offices andhospitals or other existing use where the activity would be a normal extension of operations), which would be processed in the normal fashion.
CONCLUSION
Normal City permitting processes need to be carefully coordinated with all other efforts underway for the pilot research project for supervised injections. For timely coordination, an expedited process is essential in reviewing applications for permits. The decisions on whether or not to issue the permits rest with the Director of Planning and Chief Building Official. This is justifiable with Council's confirmation that we face public health emergency regarding injection drug use in the city and that this research pilot project is a key component of a comprehensive response to this public health emergency.
For the future, if supervised injection sites become normalized as an appropriate intervention into injection drug using scenes, the use will be articulated and added to the existing land use categories through the rezoning process. Thereafter normal permitting procedures will be followed.
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