Evidence keeps piling up to support drug harm-reduction strategy

published on June 24, 2013 by Ian Mulgrew in The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver’s progressive approach to drug addiction over the past 15 years is working, says a major report obtained exclusively by The Sun and based on comprehensive health and safety data.

Produced by scientists from the Urban Health Research Initiative of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the UBC Division of AIDS, the 2013 Drug Situation in Vancouver report to be released Monday shows liberal harm-reduction policies are effective at reducing illicit drug use and improving public safety.

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To meet that end, the Urban Health Research Initiative was established in 2007 at St. Paul’s Hospital led by Dr. Evan Wood and Dr. Thomas Kerr. Part of its mandate “is to help inform policy decisions using the best available scientific evidence regarding the illicit drug problems in the City of Vancouver.”

Ian Mulgrew
Vancouver Sun
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