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VANCOUVER – The British Columbia Center on Addiction proposes a policy to sell regulated heroin as part of an urgent action to reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths resulting of a toxic drug offer benefiting organized crime groups.
He recommends the use of so-called compbadionate clubs and heroin buyers, similar to those that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s to allow access to medical cannabis in response to the AIDS epidemic.
"At the time, as now, compbadion clubs operated to provide a safe place for people to access medical cannabis and connect to a range of health services, while buying clubs provided a life-saving treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS, when the government's inaction limited their access to these services. drugs, "says a report from the center.
It also highlights independent reports that organized crime groups have used casinos in the Vancouver area to launder billions of dollars in cash from their proceeds of crime, including fentanyl trafficking, which the Attorney General , David Eby, said troubling.
Evan Wood, executive director of the center, said that an innovative approach to the overdose crisis was needed during a public health emergency declared in British Columbia nearly three years ago, as well as to wage an "economic war" against organized criminals benefiting from the ban on drugs.
Compbadion clubs would involve a cooperative model in which powdered heroin would be limited to members who have been badessed by a health care provider as opioid dependent, an education about not consuming alone and related to treatment as part of a program involving rigorous evaluation, Wood said.
"One of the great benefits of this model is that there is a huge gap between the people who buy their drugs and the public health and treatment services. This is the gap that was very difficult to make with the opioid response with the only one at home and dying from an overdose of fentanyl.
The BC Coroners Service reported that nearly 3,000 people had a fatal overdose in the province in 2017 and 2018 alone, and that fentanyl was detected in 85% of deaths last year.
The Heroin Compbadion Club model would require Health Canada's approval, which could either grant an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for research or public health reasons, or Purpose of another bylaw authorizing the BC. import pharmaceutical grade injectable heroin from Switzerland.
This heroine has been used since 2014 by a limited number of drug addicts treated at the Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver.
Wood said the idea of creating compbadion clubs came from a small group of people who had banded together to buy heroin from dealers and test her to determine if she had been contaminated with fentanyl.
"I saw and talked to these people," he said. "I have a patient who has had a transformative experience using heroin instead of fentanyl and this has led us to sit around a room and say," OK, we should maybe have this conversation about regulating the heroin market. "
Providing users with a quantity of regulated and legal heroin would also benefit from other types of support, including public health experts, treatment services and pharmacy services, Wood said.
Dean Wilson, a former heroin addict and support aide from the Center for Addiction in British Columbia, said that he had started using heroin at age 13 years old.
"There is not a day going on that I would not have touched at all," said Wilson, who has been on opioid methadone for more than 10 years.
Wilson, 63, author of the center's report, said he sold drugs and spent time in jail, including for property crimes, to fuel his drug addiction.
One gram of heroin in the street costs between $ 140 and $ 200 and can last a few days, compared with about $ 3.80 that users would pay for powdered heroin imported from Switzerland, he said. declared.
"That's the thing people do not realize: if you had the same gram of heroin on the street, you would earn about $ 6,000 a month. But everyone has to steal or generate nearly $ 50,000 worth of stolen goods to get those $ 6,000. "
Erica Thomson, a social badistant from Fraser Health who also contributed to the report, said that she had started consuming heroin at the age of 15 while growing up as a national competitive swimmer.
She has undergone several treatment programs but has re-offended several times before recovering eight years ago.
"I think it's another way to start staying alive because we're not getting anything concrete that reflects our realities," she said.
According to Thomson, drug users do not want to go to organized crime groups to find a safe heroin supply that compbadion clubs would provide.
"You can increase addiction treatment as you see fit, but addiction treatment is not the answer to a poisoned, unregulated illicit drug market. For now, it's really about stopping the bleeding. "
– Follow @ CamilleBains1 on Twitter.
Camille Bains, Canadian Press
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