"Province" Coverage of the Free Booze story

‘Illicit Drinkers’ seek free alcohol lounge in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

By SAM COOPER, The Province January 10, 2012

Rob Morgan says when you wake up after getting blasted on hand sanitizer it feels like your kidney is bulging out of your body.

The longer you drink it, the more you see sparkling light at the edge of your eyes. That’s the first step in going blind from guzzling cheap illicit booze, the doctor tells him.

Morgan, a First Nations man from a reserve near Terrace, hopes to reduce the harmful impact of addicts ingesting cheap, illicit alcohol by landing funding for a peer-run drinker’s lounge.

The envisioned lounge would offer free legal alcohol in the Downtown Eastside.

Morgan and about 40 members of the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education see this as the next step in Vancouver’s harm reduction movement, like a supervised injection site, for illicit drinkers who typically ingest Listerine, hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol.

Illicit drinkers can squeeze about 30 standard drinks from a 250 ml bottle of 95 per cent rubbing alcohol by diluting servings with water, experts say, for the cost of about $3.

Morgan says addicts will turn over their welfare cheques to illicit booze brokers, adding he sees “dealers” in the Downtown Eastside carrying large vats of hand sanitizer stolen from hospitals.

He says the damage done is easy to see in the Downtown Eastside and in cities in norther B.C. He knows a number of peers that have died from alcohol poisoning, freezing to death outside, or “getting shanked” in an argument stemming from the fast and powerful buzz that comes from illicit booze.

“I myself am one of the one’s that suffers,” Morgan said Tuesday in an interview. “Each one of us wakes up with those demons staring at us in our face, and that’s why we drink it.”

Started in July, Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education has landed $52,000 in a research grant, with aims to gather clinical evidence across B.C. on the benefits of alcohol maintenance programs.

Within the next year they hope to produce research in order to help land a partner in the health care sector to fund a Downtown Eastside drinker’s lounge stocked with vodka, sherry and high-alcohol beer.

Advocates say at a cost of about $350 per month per drinker, alcohol maintenance programs can reduce policing costs and medical fees associated to frequent emergency room visits for illicit booze drinkers.

Morgan says there would be counselling, health and detox referral services provided at the drinker’s lounge, and the group would maintain a database to monitor outcomes.

“It would be members only because once word gets out it is free alcohol everyone that just wants a free drink would show up,” he said.

scooper@theprovince.com

UnBelievable, but True

You may find the following article from the Vancouver Courier a mad flight of fancy.

But it is not.

It is copied directly from the paper.

The story is simple enough.

But try to get your head around it.

Group touts Insite-style lounge for 'illicit' drinkers

Plan includes free alcohol for the addicted

By Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier January 4, 2012

Some addicts in the Downtown Eastside drink hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol.

Photograph by: Jason Lang, Vancouver Courier

Those who imbibe Listerine, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol want a peer-run illicit alcohol drinker's lounge established in the Downtown Eastside.

"It's like an Insite [supervised injection site] for illicit drinkers," said Nicole Latham, community developer with the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education, or E.I.D.G.E., that was formed in late July through the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, or VANDU.

The more than 20 members of E.I.D.G.E. envision a program that would provide free legal alcohol to those addicted to using substances with low prices and high alcohol content that aren't meant to be ingested. They want the lounge to be peer-run and to provide referrals to other health services.

Alcohol maintenance programs have run in other jurisdictions for years. A medical student and PhD candidate from the University of B.C. is working with the E.I.D.G.E. group that meets once a week except following welfare Wednesday when few participants show up after receiving their monthly cheque.

Vancouver Coastal Health is running a pilot alcohol maintenance program for illicit alcohol drinkers that started in August. The Managed Alcohol Program operates at PHS Community Services' subsidized housing on Station Street.

Eight of 80 residents who are chronic drinkers that have relapsed after detox are given vodka, beer or wine every hour for 12 hours. They also received counselling.

MAP aims to reduce emergency room visits, encounters with police and the number of drinks each participant consumes.

Mark Townsend of PHS says the program costs roughly $350 per person per month.

"What that means if they're not going to the hospital once, we've saved the money instantaneously," he said.

Dr. Ronald Joe, medical manager of Inner City Addictions for Vancouver Coastal Health, said the program's most troubled client visited the emergency room every three days.

Some favour rubbing alcohol because it provides the highest alcohol content for the buck. Joe said clients can buy a 250 ml bottle of 95 per cent rubbing alcohol for $3, dilute and drink it for an equivalent of 30 standard drinks, say 30 beer or 30 servings of wine.

"Our worst clients are drinking two or three or four of these [bottles] a day, so we're talking about 120 drinks a day," he said.

PHS has operated alcohol maintenance programs in the past, but this is the first time a program has been run in a more scientific way that's based on clinical evidence with Vancouver Coastal Health and researchers from the University of Victoria.

Joe says participants appear, on average, to have reduced the number of drinks they consume by half and they've shifted from illicit to beverage alcohol. Their health seems to be improving and they are causing fewer disturbances for other residents at Station Street.

"The public- wants a quick fix," Joe said. "-We need to think of it in a completely different paradigm. It's a chronic disease, it's a relapsing condition and we need to better help people recover where they're at."

crossi@vancourier.com Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi

© Copyright (c) Vancouver Courier

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HARM REDUCTION Uber alles

Safe handguns

By Paul Schober, The Province January 8, 2012

Kudos to whoever came up with the recent plan to distribute safe crack pipes to the needy. But it got me to thinking - couldn't we as a society be doing even more to help?

Not the drug users. I'm talking about the deplorable and hazardous state of many of the handguns used by some of our most desperate citizens when they feel it's necessary to shoot someone.

Cheaply made and improperly maintained handguns can back-fire and explode, seriously injuring or even killing their victim (I mean the shooter here, not the tar-get of the gun).

I suggest we initiate a government program to replace dangerous pistols with well-made and properly maintained Canadian-made guns. After all, these people are going to shoot anyway, regardless of our personal disapproval of the activity and their choice of lifestyle.

Each government-issued pistol would be hermetically sealed and come with a warning label, as well as a pamphlet encouraging alter-natives to gun violence like yoga or vegetarianism.

Paul Schober, Vancouver

© Copyright (c) The Province

DESERVES A POST OF ITS OWN

The following comment was sent in response to our postings of yesterday and the day before about harm reduction and abstinence-based prevention & treatment.

David, I grew up with an alcoholic father then an alcoholic step father. Then I was an alcoholic. I quit drinking 22 years ago. I have raised 3 sons one who was addicted to cocaine. If the do-gooders that want to enable drug users could have lived the hell my family endured with drugs and alcohol they might not be as keen to enable. My sympathy goes out to the eye and his infirm mother. My mom also just gets by. Because she isnt dead broke and because she is able to get about in a power chair she gets little or no help from the do gooders. When we sought treatment for our son it was available but it wasn't in our area. It took time and money for him to get treatment. If the do-gooders only knew the harm that they cause by enabling addicts and drunks they would stop.

To those that believe in abstinence keep up the good work. We live in a strange time. We allow governments to waste our money on so many crazy ideas that people with clear vision for recovery and treatment need to be heard.

THE "PROVINCE" GETS IT RIGHT

Here in La la Land, there are only two journalists who "get it." Jon Ferry, columnist and editor at the Province newspaper and Mark Hasiuk columnist at the Vancouver Courier, regularly decry harm reduction strategies and write in strong support of abstinence-based prevention & treatment.

This is Jon's column from today:

When it comes to giving drug addicts taxpayer-funded services, there's a fine line between providing them with health care and enabling them to continue their destructive and unhealthy lifestyles.

Many Province readers clearly feel that the Vancouver Coast-al Health Authority has crossed that line with its decision to hand out free crack pipes in the Downtown Eastside.

As Province reporter Cassidy Olivier has noted, it's part of a trial program to reduce injuries to addicts' lips and mouths that can make them more susceptible to hepatitis B and C and even HIV.

The pipes will be included in 60,000 drug kits that are expected to be distributed over eight months. The health authority says this will help steer the crack smokers toward detox services.

Let's hope it does. Crack cocaine is a scourge on society and a major cause of crime and other human misery.

However, we're inclined to agree with the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, a national anti-drug group, that the public authority should focus much less on "harm reduction" and far more on drug treatment and prevention.

This, of course, is not a clear-cut issue. And we sympathize fully with health professionals who are anxious to save lives and curb the spread of disease in the notorious skid-row district.

Our view, though, is that one of the reasons why the Down-town Eastside has such deep-seated social problems is that well-intentioned but naive community leaders have not only allowed drug use to flourish, but even encouraged it.

Indeed, some go so far as to argue that our tolerant attitude toward drugs is one reason why Vancouver is such a great city.

But if it's so great, why do so many people seem to need to use them? That's the question we should all be asking.

You can write Jon a THANK YOU at jferry@theprovince.com

BLATANT PITCH

This morning I received no less than eight phone calls from the Mystic East.

Sun News Media, which has a TV viewership smaller than Langley township, is headquartered in Toronto.

Thus, several of these calls arrived to my thankfully silent phones long before eight a.m.

Each call represented one of several producers for various Sun talk TV shows.

'Sup?

Vancouver Coastal Health is giving out clean crack pipe kits to users, and that includes 12 year old girls.

You don't say?

Getting news from the shaggy West Coast to the Centre of the Universe must be more difficult in these winter months what with all the snowy passes and such.

I've got better news than that.

In my spare time, besides being a retired old goof who likes to walk to cafes and drink cappuccinos and read old fashioned books with paper pages and doing a weekly cable TV show (with more viewers here in the Forsaken Territories than all of Sun Media) and doing therapy with addicts and alcoholics and swimming and hanging with friends and family, besides all that stuff...I have a part time gig.

I'm the executive director (or Executive Director) of the DRUG PREVENTION NETWORK of CANADA.

We are a curious lot.

We cling to a quaint value system.

I know this will break you up, but we actually believe that, when it comes to drugs and alcohol, abstinence-based Prevention & Treatment work.

We believe this so much that we have been making ourselves into the voice for abstinence-based Prevention & Treatment in communities, in the media and in Parliament.

In the last six months, we hosted two terrific small conferences bringing front-line workers together for common cause.

Here's what makes us different.

The honorable men and women who are spending your tax dollars are giving out free crack pipe kits, free needles, free heroin to 322 addicts for three years ($8Million) and free booze to downtown rubbies. Not to mention running (at tax-payer expense) clean well-lit places where addicts can shoot up before they go back in the alley and shoot up a little later in the same old way.

At the DRUG PREVENTION NETWORK of CANADA, we have the audacity to want to see drunks and drug addicts go into treatment and come out clean and sober citizens. Imagine. We also want to see children encouraged to avoid the indignities and misery of a life in addiction. Crazy us.

Here's what I wrote to our colleagues and members organizations and individual supporters this morning:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We head into this New Year with fresh energy and determination to promote in all possible ways our shared beliefs in abstinence-based Prevention and Treatment.

Our hearts and minds may be full, but our pockets are nearing empty.

The DRUG PREVENTION NETWORK OF CANADA operates on a comically modest budget - what my mother would have called "windy pies and airy puddings."

We have no secretaries, no fax machines, cell phones, frequent flyer miles or the like.

So we ask you once again to become a full-fledged member. That's $200 a year for like-minded organizations and $50 a year for individuals.

Now it is easier than ever to JOIN US. We have added PAY PAL and or CREDIT CARD subscriptions to both our website and our blog. Strength is in numbers. We need you to be added to our growing list of groups and people who know that Prevention and Treatment work.

Please JOIN US today.

Perhaps you agree with us.

If you do, please JOIN US today.

NEWMAKER OF THE YEAR

The clear and offensive dereliction of duty by our mayor and our police chief make the Stanley Cup Riot the hat-trick winner as the Vancouver Newsmaker 2011.

First shot: The riot was predictable. This is a young and sophomoric town. We are not a world-class city, not by several blue lines. We are scrappy adolescents proud of our grubby denims and hoodies. Too many bicycles and chickens will make you miss this important point.

Second shot: Total bewilderment from our leaders.

The clincher: The Great Stall. Just as Gordon Campbell did with Basi-Virk and Jean Chrétien did with the sponsorships, Mayor Gregor Robertson and VPD Chief Jim Chu continue to drag out the charges or arrests or punishments for this detestable mayhem.

The riot was not an aberration and it said way more about our culture than we care to face.

—David Berner, a journalist and executive director of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada

Read more: http://www.vancourier.com/news/Contributors+choose+their+Vancouver+newsmakers+2011/5867532/story.html#ixzz1gujuj2td

SUFFER THE CHILDREN

LET ME SEE YOU - THIS IS CANADA

When was the last time I praised or even mildly agreed with a politician? I honestly can't remember.

But today I go all out in saluting Canadian Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney.

He has banned the wearing of niqabs and burkas at citizenship ceremonies.

This is not a guy who has come out of some frozen right wing nowhere to make this declaration.

Kenney has over the years been building trust and communications with Indian and Chinese voters across the country.

Can you imagine a Liberal or an NDP politician having the balls to get off the politically correct wagon to stand up in public and do what Kenney has done?

I have written in the past in these spaces about my feelings about women covered head to foot in cotton.

I hate it.

This is the age of terrorism.

I don`t want anyone around me who is concealed in almost every possible way.

A Muslim woman declares in a separate article "WE ARE NOT A THREAT."

Well, I have news for Minna Ella.

She may be a wonderful mother and wife and person.

But if she moves through my vision as a floating tent, she is a threat. She is a bank robber or a bomber or at the very least a part of culture that see women as chattel and cattle.

Sorry, not acceptable in Canada.

Bravo Mr. Kenney.

Twists and Turns

People think that the best sports in B.C. are hockey, fishing, skiing and playing games on their iPhones.

But no.

The very best gamer, bar none, is watching bureaucrats, mandarins, elected officilas and all the other agents of the devil play with words.

It's called The Spin Cycle.

The name of the game is to take the obvious and verbally twist it into something unrecognizable, although usually risible.

Prime example from yesterday's headlines:

Doctor on leave after scans reviewed

Sechelt hospital retests nearly 200 people since last year

Pretty straight forward, yes?

Just hold onto your bowler, Bunky.

We've only just begun.

This medical wizard has been performing colonoscopies of late. Over 600 little visits up the backsides of local patients in recent years. Only problem is Doc doesn't really know how to do this little bit of plumbing and the intruding equipment is not really getting to the final resting place it should. Result - confusion and a sore butt for nothing.

Now, here's the spokesperson for VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH (I put that in caps and bold font because around these parts, this body is akin to the emperor or the ayatollah... as in, what we say, goes, Brother!):

"There was never any evidence that anything was done wrong but possibly it wasn't done thoroughly," Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Anna Marie D'Angelo said,

Now, here s my problem, Kids.

I'm a bit of a language freak.

And from the little log cabin in the woods that I was a-larnin', doing something wrong and not doing it thoroughly ARE THE SAME THING!

But it's OK.

Our Angel of Public Deception says that sticking tubes and camera and stuff up the public's ass for four years and getting no useful information is just a minor glitch.

And if she had to suffer this indignity and come away none the wiser, would she still be spouting this drivel?

Probably.

She's well compensated for the bull.

CARING ABOUT FAMILIES...but not if it costs us too much

Why would WorkSafeBC, whose mandate and mission are explained in its monicker, go out of its way to make life more dangerous for late night and over night workers?

As always, follow the money.

The BC Federation of Labour and others petitioned long and hard to have the government pass "Grant's Law," in honor of the young man who was dragged to his death when he tried to stop a punk pulling a "gas & dash" at an all-night gas station.

Now, two years later, the government is bowing to the whining from business owners who claim that keeping their employees safe is too costly. Now WorkSafeBC is pulling a vanilla on the rules.

Where is the "Families First" premier?

Hello?

THROUGH A STUDENT'S EYES

MURDER

On the weekend, the Sun published a review of a new non-fiction book about a woman who married a murderer.

The woman knew that this man had murdered a woman who refused his sexual advances. She knew that the man she fell in love with and married was on life parole.

Shortly after she married this man, he kidnapped and raped two women at knife point. He is back in jail.

The book is about the woman's experience and it holds little interest for me.

What does interest me is the complete failure of what passes for a criminal justice system in this country.

The murderer had been out in the community for five years, living in a half-way house and holding down a job when this lady met him.

He was given these opportunities after murdering a woman 20 years his senior because she wouldn't fuck him.

A whole bunch of well-meaning, totally naive and ignorant social workers, psychiatrists, prison and parole officials then conspired to have two other women viciously attacked and almost murdered as well.

Why aren't these women suing all of these fools and the corrupt and blind system that employs them?

Men who murder women and kidnap women and rape women are not the same as your average Sunday dope fiend, bank robber, bunko artist or car thief.

Men who murder women and kidnap women and rape women are nonredeemable.

They cannot be rehabilitated. I know of no such case.

These men are hard-wired to perform and perform again and then again these hideous melodramas of rage and revenge.

Would it be a terrible thing for us to face this fact?

A few days before this book review was published, the Sun printed a debate about psychopaths.

The argument went something like this.

If it's true that psychopaths can't help themselves, maybe we shouldn't be so hard on them when it comes to punishment.

OMG!

Could we please remove psychiatry from the court room and the parole hearing? Please?

The criminal laws are not about Personality.

They are about BEHAVIOUR.

It is not a sin or a crime or against any of the known commandments to be a not nice person. Or even to think funny.

But killing and raping are on the books.

An 18 year old who kills a 38 year old woman because she refuses his dopey advances should, once caught, remain in prison for life. To return this time bomb to the community is the height of social irresponsibility. It doesn't matter how charming the s.o.b. appears to be. He is an out-of-control lunatic and a danger to your children.

All of the people who let this particular nut free to strike again went to University.

What did they learn?

What did we?

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

EDUCATION AGENDA

Hello, There

I saw a dog today with a certain familiar look.

He must have been an adorable puppy and a strapping young stud.

Today, he is heavy, square-faced and jowly.

Still, he must be harboring some wonderful old stories.

ORCHARD RECOVERY NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

Honour a Life - November 24, 2011

Join us for a beautiful ceremony on Thursday November 24th, 2011 From 1:30pm onward -including Kim's traditional roast beef dinner. We honour our alumni and others who have lost their lives to the disease of addiction. We will share their stories and light candles to their memory. If you cannot join us, please light a candle wherever you are.

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Reel Recovery Film Festival - A Huge Success!

The Orchard Recovery Center and Writers in Treatment presented the Canadian debut of the Reel Recovery Film Festival October 21-23 at Vancouver's District 319. This exciting three-day festival showcased realistic, honest and inspiring films about addiction and recovery, screening both groundbreaking new films and classic features. Interactive discussions followed each screening. Movie admission proceeds helped non-profit Intersections Media for at risk-youth. Our opening night gala featured an evening of gourmet cuisine, comedy and cinema. Mayor Gregor Robertson was in attendance for the screening of 2010 documentary, "I Am Comic", which revealed the serious side of hilarity, followed by a performance by our special guest, comic Pat Dixon.

    

    

Thank you to all who contributed and made this night a huge success!

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Intervention Canada

Friday September 23rd The Orchard made its first television debut on Intervention Canada. Check out www.slice.ca/watch/ and click episode 6 to see Conrad's journey through recovery at The Orchard.

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Dr. Patrick Fay: 'Addiction is a disease, it can be treated...and treatment works'

Last month's edition of The Celtic Connection featured the Orchard's own addictionologist Dr. Patrick Fay. The article describes Dr. Fay's experience treating addiction in the private as well as the public sector. His experience has taught him that addiction does not discriminate career, wealth or achievement. The article also captures how Dr. Fay came to work with the addicted population in Vancouver. For the full article click here: www.celtic-connection.com/features/feat2011_09_02.html

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Evolution of Addiction Conference in Los Angeles, California

Orchard counselor Carrie De Jong has been given the opportunity to present some of her expertise at the upcoming Evolution of Addiction Conference in L.A. in December, 2011.
She will be discussing the many sources of trauma over the lifespan of an individual that impact emotional, behavioral, relational, and cognitive functioning. The goal of her seminar is to bring greater awareness to the experience of trauma and its impact on addiction for those who work in the field of addiction treatment.

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David Berner

Thursday, October 27th The Orchard welcomed guest speaker David Berner. David Berner is a semi-retired therapist making his contribution to the addictions and recovery field -other than his current assignment as Executive Director of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada. He began his work in the field 45 years ago ( as the founder and E.D. of the X-Kalay Foundation in 1967 in Vancouver and Salt Spring Island, now the Behavioural Health Foundation in Manitoba) and has run and participated in thousands of hours of individual and group therapy.

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An Official Welcome to the Orchard's Clinical Dietician!

Ellie Mackay, M.Sc, RD Ellie is a Clinical Dietitian registered with the College of Dietitians of British Columbia. She specializes in helping individuals develop a healthy relationship with food. She has over 20 years experience in a wide range of nutrition areas including diabetes management, heart disease, weight control and eating disorders. Ellie received her Masters degree in Human Nutrition from the University of British Columbia examining the role of dieting in the development of eating disorders. She works one-on-one and in group education settings to help clients attain their nutrition goals and guide them to lead a healthful, nourishing lifestyle.

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The Orchard One Year Club

Congratulations to our latest one year club members! The following alumni have achieved one year clean and sober:

Caren R, Corrie S, Les F, Aman S, Jamie Q, Ron G, Ryan L, Derek C, Laura F, Colleen M, Susan P, Andrea H, Carlotta R, Pauline M, Sue O, Ryan G, Mete S, David D, Carolyn S

Drop by the administration building next alumni day to see your name posted on the one year club board.

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Please click on the link below to read alumni thoughts on being at the Orchard at Christmas:

Programs - Admissions - Why Us - Testimonials - Special Events - Tour
Intervention and Pre-Admission - Visitor Info - Extended Care - Contact Us - Home

© 2011 The Orchard Recovery and Drug Treatment Center     1-866-233-2299

"DEMOCRACY" in action

THE INTERPRETERS

The public statements of men and women and parties who win elections are always the same - "The people have spoken!"

That's understandable.

They are giddy with triumph. Our team scored all the touchdowns and I am a winner. Yeah!

But what can we say about the media who are supposed to have some perception outside the ring of battle?

This morning's Sun and Province writers seem as intoxicated as the Vision supporters in Vancouver.

"Clearly," the tell us, as if we haven't just heard this from the re-elected Mayor, "the people have spoken!"

Good grief. Is there a brain left there at the foot of Granville Street?

Look.

The "people spoke" and they elected Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brian Mulroney, and Silvio Berlusconi, among others.

Today, the pundits and political "reporters" are telling us that the people of Vancouver are solidly and completely behind the fabulous vision and programs of the incumbent party.

The people of Vancouver by and large don't vote.

And 90% of those people who do vote think His Honor is cute and wouldn't know a public strategy if they fell in a bog full of them.

What this election result tells us is not what the press is telling us.

It tells us that the elected party was tremendously organized and well-heeled and that they did all the phone calling, polling and door knocking that was necessary and that money could buy to get re-elected.

Good for them.

Now lower your head, square your shoulders and thrust yourself sharp into the wind and try not to notice the irrelevant silliness that will emanate from 12th and Cambie for another three years.

Post script: Charlie Smith of the Georgia Straight has shared with me his very similar reaction to the municipal elections. To my knowledge, his is the only piece not covered in bunting.