The City of Ottawa is trying to battle a growing drug problem by bringing together organizations and individuals from across Ottawa to come up with an integrated drug strategy.
Ottawa's injection drug users have the highest rate of HIV and hepatitis C in Canada at 21 per cent, a rate nine times greater than Toronto's.
That's just one problem the Community Network, a committee of 40 individuals and organizations, plans to examine over the next few months.
The group, which includes city officials, police officers, addiction specialists and many others, met for the first time Thursday afternoon in Ottawa's city council chambers.
Parents of addicts will also sit on the committee to offer first-hand accounts of difficulties involved in dealing with the current system.
Many families say they have spent an incredible amount of time just trying to navigate through the health system because there is no co-ordinated approach to dealing with drug problems in the city.
The committee will review every program the city offers for people dealing with addictions, including treatment, prevention, enforcement and harm reduction.
The man who kick-started the process, Dr. Robert Cushman, says he's thrilled a strategy is now in sight.
Cushman, Ottawa's former medical health officer, had a public disagreement with the chief of police last spring about harm-reduction programs in the city.
The recommendations that the committee puts forward could include everything from treatment programs to harm-reduction services, such as needle exchange and free crack-pipe kits.
One recommendation that is expected to be at the top of the list is a residential treatment facility for young people with substance abuse problems, though there's no word on how the city would finance the building of it.
"Obviously, the priority is to increase the level of treatment and that always means more money," said Alana Kainz, co-chair of the Community Network.
"I think we're going to have to work together as a group to come up with ways to get more money."
The group is scheduled to report recommendations for the integrated drug and addiction strategy in June.
|
ABOUT US
