Thursday, May 04, 2006
Vancouver Sun
Give the addicts their drugs: For those who bicker over two of the four pillars, harm reduction and treatment ...Peter McKnight, Vancouver Sun, 29 April
The Vancouver Sun published an extensive commentary on opiate agonist maintenance treatment in general, and heroin maintenance in particular (29 April). It notes that even among supporters of heroin maintenance, now being assessed in a pilot program in Montreal and Vancouver, a distinction is drawn between "harm reduction" and "treatment," and argues compellingly that this is a false dichotomy.
“… it's not always possible to distinguish harm reduction from treatment. Indeed, while prescribing heroin to addicts is usually viewed as harm reduction, heroin maintenance is really a form of treatment, a means of stabilizing addicts physically, emotionally and economically."