By Nathan Allen

One issue not being argued about in the upcoming civic election is City Hall’s support for the life-saving work of InSite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site. Last month, as InSite’s future remained uncertain, both Peter Ladner and Gregor Robertson called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do the right thing, to renew the facilities legal exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Their unified message reflected a refreshing level of maturity for politicians, often tempted to polarize issues in order to mobilize their respective voter base. Today, as both Ladner and Robertson begin to take positions on major civic issues, voters will not need to consider if Vancouver’s future mayor will work to confront the tragic consequences of addiction, but how each candidate plans to specifically address the issue.

Although the mayor will be chosen by residents across Vancouver, what will determine the results on November 15 will be each candidate’s plan for combating the problems in the Downtown Eastside. The comprehensive plan first presented by Philip Owen to address Vancouver’s drug problem would be a good initial step for both candidates to adopt.

Owen’s leadership in championing the Four Pillars Drug Strategy adds significantly to the discourse on addiction by focusing on solutions rather than stirring up controversy or placing blame. Owen’s Framework for Action eliminates the false belief that enforcement, treatment, prevention and harm reduction are mutually exclusive.

In fact, Vancouver has proven the exact opposite is true. The Four Pillars metaphor is made real with InSite with each pillar complementing the other, each being vital in supporting the multifaceted strategy needed to deal with this complex problem.

Owen’s strategy makes it clear that harm reduction does not come at the expense of treatment, enforcement, or prevention, but along side each.

Despite Stephen Harper’s attempts to score political points by dividing Canadians with fear and misunderstanding about safe injection sites, Vancouver politicians of all stripes have been overcoming their ideological positions and supporting InSite’s harm reduction strategies. This desire to fight for addition issues despite differing political viewpoints needs to become the norm, not the exception among our politicians.

This cohesive support is pivotal for holding on to our city’s priority to improve public safety and health, and for keeping this important issue out of the hands of the Harper government. Despite a large political backing for the safe injection site, the future actions of our new mayor, when confronted by the complicated challenges of the Downtown Eastside, will inevitably not please everyone.

As the opinions heat up through the summer, the good intentions of both contenders paving their campaign trails must be cemented with the courage of the convictions already exemplified by both candidates in their support of InSite.

Insite is certainly not the entire answer, but a vital piece of the puzzle now in place with the support of both Vision and NPA. Now the rest of the picture can be completed, putting in place the wide range of community supports necessary to make further progress.

This is where the candidates come in. How far are they willing to go to combat addition? What steps are they going to take? Are they going to address all the issues related to drug addition?

One issue that needs a fresh perspective is prevention of drug addition. Prevention must be far more than just an advertising campaign intended to scare parents, but focus on providing real education, and honest information. Prevention also includes many of the other concerns facing the people of Vancouver, including the need for expanded day care and improved affordable housing.

Other aspects of the solution may include innovations in addiction therapy that could both minimize harm and help move addicts closer to recovery. In Vancouver, the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), has studied the impacts of prescribing heroin to hard-core addicts who were repeatedly unsuccessful with methadone therapy.

The results will likely be published soon, but it’s widely speculated that the cohort of addicts going through the NAOMI program were able to stabilize their lives and achieve positive affects in reducing drug use. Similar studies in Europe have proven beneficial in eventually weaning heroin addicts off the drug.

Current Mayor Sam Sullivan’s Chronic Addiction Substitution Therapy (CAST) initiative proposes research into treating addiction to illegal drugs through prescription of pharmaceutical drugs, like morphine for opiate addicts, or Ritalin for stimulant addicts. Without Sullivan’s continued championing, the CAST initiative future becomes more uncertain. Hopefully Ladner and Robertson’s position on CAST will not simply be a reaction to political differences with the outgoing mayor.

In addition to more traditional strategies, other new ideas may also be helpful in combating the disease of addiction. There have been numerous scientific inquiries around the world into wide range of addiction treatment options, stimulant maintenance, and opiate replacement therapies, all of which are worthy of discussion and contemplation by our politicians.

We will fail to help the addicted of our city if we politicize decisions on the next step for Vancouver’s drug policy. No single campaign promise can assure voters Vancouver’s drug problem will be solved. What citizens must demand from civic leaders is consideration of all options, and choosing to rule nothing out in the pursuit of relief from the tragic reality of addiction.

Ladner and Robertson are so far on the right track by supporting Insite, and defending Vancouver’s future from Stephen Harper’s moral judgment. By joining together in support of a comprehensive plan to address addiction, the NPA and Vision can expand the debate in a positive direction. Arguing not about what the job is at hand, but rather who has the best plan to get the job done.

Nathan Allen is a representative of Insite For Community Safety, an initiative of the PHS Community Services Society, which co-manages InSite, North America’s only supervised injection facility.