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It's Thursday August the 17 around 2:04PM and

Not Quite Insight

The idea of less needles on the street is a compelling argument. After so many years of working and living down here I would rather see human waste in the open than ever see a needle again on the sidewalk or in an alleyway. My son knows what poop is and that his parents get mad when he plays with it or throws it. It's a non-negotiable no no. There isn't room for trial and error should he stumble upon a needle, used or not. That, and the zero fatality stat, put me on the "FOR" side of Insite's future.

As a taxpayer I cringe when I see money spent on what is already a drain on society. Not the people but the subject of all this, the drugs. Near every crime in this city is spawned by drugs and Insite isn't quite stopping use so much as just keeping the user safe. Now keeping these people safe is worth it but it's just a big band-aid on a very permanent problem. I realize I should care less how money is spent if it is in fact saving lives as reports suggest it does. But at what point do these people start helping themselves, if ever?

I don't suspect more are going into programs and successfully kicking it than there are new users knocking on the door. So how big can Insite get to keep all the area's users safe? Will the term "big box" and "safe injection" co-exist in the same sentence...again?

UPDATE - In the Metro this Morning was a short blurb about Insite: "...has saved taxpayers up to $8 million in health and criminal justice expenses..." It was from a Paper published in the Harm Reduction Journal, whatever the hell that is. If my math is right then Insite is money well spent. Also the idea of Paramedics spending less time in those alleys is a raging plus. Meet me at Emerson's office at 5pm, bring snacks!

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Comments

Posted by: Darren

August 18, 2006 12:36 AM

I care more about society than the drug users as well. The case for InSite is simple to me. The site oversaw 500 overdoses. Those overdoses, had they occurred elsewhere, would have resulted in some deaths, some hospitalization, and some activity from the city's ambulance and police services.

I'd have to see the numbers, but I'd guess that the savings in prevention exceeds the cost of the facility.

This is also why I'm in favour of heroin and methadone replacement programs. We're never going to cure more than a minority of the addicts. Instead, let's focus on reducing or eliminating their impact on society.

Posted by: bree

August 21, 2006 05:15 PM

Agreed. I think it's unlikely that the majority of the folks using drugs on the streets will turn their own lives around, but at least services like Insite prevent them from wasting too much of emergency workers' time.

Posted by: bree

August 21, 2006 05:16 PM

Just realized I should clarify: it's not that it's wasting their time to save addicts' lives, it's that the overdose or whatever could have been prevented through a program like this.