Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2013-11-21 16:00:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Jack Harris (St. John's East, NDP)",
        "fr": "M. Jack Harris (St. John's-Est, NPD)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"3477070\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak to Bill <a data-HoCid=\"6254806\" href=\"/bills/41-2/C-2/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act\">C-2, an act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act</a>. I am not pleased with the act, but I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak against it, because the act does serious damage to the notion of what government ought to be doing to help some of the most vulnerable people in our country, those who are seriously at risk of dying because of an addiction to a particular drug.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477071\" data-originallang=\"en\">Maybe Conservatives do not have any sympathy for addicts, except for Mr. Ford, in Ontario. I do not know, but they certainly seem to be willing to put at very serious risk of death and further harm people who, by their circumstances, end up being addicted to drugs and could make use of a place such as InSite in Vancouver. They tried to shut it down, and they were told by the Supreme Court of Canada that they could not do it, so they are trying an end run around safe injection sites with this legislation.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477072\" data-originallang=\"en\">Let us look at some raw numbers and the reason this safe injection site was established in the first place. There was a situation in the lower east side of Vancouver in the mid-1990s, when about 200 people a year were dying from drug overdoses. That is a serious public health issue. It is a serious crisis in public safety. There were all sorts of other harms associated with all that activity.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477073\" data-originallang=\"en\"> InSite was established to provide a safe place where those who were addicted could inject. It was supervised by professionals who were not only providing a safe place but were also providing other services, such as referrals and access to medical services, counselling, and programs that would lead to detoxification and overcoming their addictions.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477074\" data-originallang=\"en\">In fact, users of this site were nearly two times as likely to go to a detox centre and go on drug programs than those who may have gone there occasionally. It was not the idea to allow the addiction to continue. It was an opportunity to get them out of addiction. As a result, twice the rate of participation in detoxification programs to get off drugs took place.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477075\" data-originallang=\"en\">When InSite started to operate, the number of fatalities from drug overdoses in the lower east side in Vancouver went down by 35%. We are talking about 70 individuals a year whose lives were saved as a result of this. Those are a lot of human lives that one particular program was able to save by being in existence. What was the government's response? It was to get rid of harm reduction as a principle of drug treatment and to shut down InSite. It is trying an end run around the Supreme Court with this particular action.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477076\" data-originallang=\"en\">Another statistic reported in a leading medical journal deals with the fact that there were 273 overdoses in a one-year period at InSite, but not one fatality, not one. That is indicative of the fact that the supervision of the safe injection site leads to greater safety and a lack of deaths. That is how it happens. When we add up some of these facts and the startling number of 70 lives a year saved, what is the possible excuse or reason the government has for introducing this legislation?</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477077\" data-originallang=\"en\">One thing we hear about often, even from the current government and lots of others, is something called evidence-based decision-making. We have heard that before: evidence-based decision-making. A good, sensible, reasonable government should be making decisions based on evidence.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477078\" data-originallang=\"en\">What do we have here? We have more than 30 peer-reviewed studies published in some of the leading medical journals in the world. Members will have heard of them. They include the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>, one of the pre-eminent medical journals in the world; <em>The Lancet</em>, another significant British medical journal, which publishes only serious peer-reviewed, high-standard, high-quality studies; and the <em>British Medical Journal</em>.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477079\" data-originallang=\"en\">More than 30 peer-reviewed studies have described the beneficial impacts of InSite, just this one particular operation. Some people and many studies have looked for the negative impact, but none have come up with any evidence demonstrating harm to the community.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477080\" data-originallang=\"en\">We have a situation where the evidence is on the side of the use of places like InSite to facilitate harm reduction, the saving of lives, detoxification, helping addicts to get off drugs and making communities safer.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477081\" data-originallang=\"en\">Those are the facts. That is the evidence that is brought to this. There is support from organizations like the Canadian Medical Association. It is hardly interested in promoting the use of drugs. It is hardly interested in having activities that are bad for patients and individuals. It sees it as a positive thing, and it has criticized the government for bringing forward Bill <a data-HoCid=\"6254806\" href=\"/bills/41-2/C-2/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act\">C-2</a>.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477082\" data-originallang=\"en\">Who else? The Canadian Nurses Association said: </p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477083\" data-originallang=\"en\">Evidence demonstrates that supervised injection sites and other harm reduction programs bring critical health and social services to vulnerable populations\u2014especially those experiencing poverty, mental illness and homelessness. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477084\" data-originallang=\"en\">Here is the kicker. They said: </p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477085\" data-originallang=\"en\">A government truly committed to public health and safety would work to enhance access to prevention and treatment services\u2014instead of building more barriers. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477086\" data-originallang=\"en\">That is what we have here, a building of more barriers to helping people who are addicted to drugs. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477087\" data-originallang=\"en\">My community of St. John's East has its share of serious drug problems. They have escalated to the point now where we have hold-ups of convenience stores and gas stations taking place. There are houses being broken in to get money to buy drugs. Some of these drugs are actually prescription drugs. There's OxyContin, a major, significant, addictive prescription drug. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477088\" data-originallang=\"en\">How did that become the bane of so many people's existence? It is something that was supposed to be reserved for only the most serious of pain in the rarest of circumstances. I do not want to exaggerate, but I have heard people say that it is being prescribed for anything from wisdom teeth being extracted to very low levels of pain, as commonly as any other painkiller, instead of being reserved for that particular rare occasion when someone was in such serious pain that addiction was not an issue, perhaps because they were in palliative care or were about to die.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477089\" data-originallang=\"en\">In the time I have left, I do want to say that we have serious problems. There can be solutions. The government should be working very hard to find solutions. Instead, what we see is government acting against the medical profession's advice, that of the Canadian Nurses Association, the Canadian Medical Association and all sorts of significant scientific studies that have demonstrated the value of sites such as InSite in Vancouver. We see it taking action to make it nearly impossible for anyone to open further injection sites and perhaps making another attack to try to shut down InSite once again when it gets the opportunity to do so.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477090\" data-originallang=\"en\">As I said at the beginning, I am glad I have had the chance to speak on this bill because I do oppose it. We are against this approach. We think this is a seriously harmful bill that will cause death to individuals who are vulnerable in our society because of their addictions, not allowing them to even get near the help they need. They will stay away. Obviously they will not be able to be near that. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477091\" data-originallang=\"en\">If people are worried about heroin addicts in their backyards, they are going to find addicts a lot closer to their backyards if they do not have a site like InSite that can actually help deliver harm reduction and vital medical and other health services to these individuals.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"3477070\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, je suis heureux de pouvoir intervenir sur le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"6254806\" href=\"/bills/41-2/C-2/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act\">C-2, Loi modifiant la Loi r\u00e9glementant certaines drogues et autres substances</a>. Je ne suis pas satisfait de cette loi, mais je suis heureux de pouvoir me prononcer contre elle, car elle va \u00e0 l'encontre de ce que le gouvernement devrait faire pour aider certains Canadiens, parmi les plus vuln\u00e9rables, qui risquent de mourir pour cause de toxicomanie. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477071\" data-originallang=\"en\">Se pourrait-il que les conservateurs n'aient aucune sympathie pour les toxicomanes, sauf pour M. Ford, en Ontario? Je ne sais pas, mais en tout cas, ils semblent pr\u00eats \u00e0 laisser en danger de mort ou de graves probl\u00e8mes des personnes qui, du fait des al\u00e9as de la vie, se retrouvent toxicomanes, et qui pourraient recourir \u00e0 un \u00e9tablissement comme le centre Insite de Vancouver. Ils ont tent\u00e9 de le fermer, mais la Cour supr\u00eame du Canada les en a emp\u00each\u00e9s, si bien qu'ils essaient maintenant de court-circuiter les centres d'injection supervis\u00e9e au moyen de ce projet de loi.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477072\" data-originallang=\"en\">Regardons quelques chiffres bruts, et voyons pourquoi, au d\u00e9part, on a cr\u00e9\u00e9 ce centre d'injection supervis\u00e9e. Au milieu des ann\u00e9es 1990, dans l'Est de la basse-ville de Vancouver, on d\u00e9plorait chaque ann\u00e9e environ 200 d\u00e9c\u00e8s par surdose. C'\u00e9tait un grave probl\u00e8me de sant\u00e9 publique. Aujourd'hui, c'est une grave crise de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 publique. La toxicomanie s'accompagne de toutes sortes d'autres m\u00e9faits.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477073\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le centre Insite a \u00e9t\u00e9 cr\u00e9\u00e9 pour permettre aux toxicomanes de s'injecter en toute s\u00e9curit\u00e9. Il \u00e9tait plac\u00e9 sous la surveillance de professionnels de la sant\u00e9, qui d'une part, assuraient la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sur place, et en outre, proposaient d'autres services, pouvaient r\u00e9f\u00e9rer les personnes \u00e0 des services m\u00e9dicaux, leur proposer du counselling, ainsi que des programmes de d\u00e9sintoxication et d'abandon de la toxicomanie.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477074\" data-originallang=\"en\">Les usagers r\u00e9guliers de ce centre avaient pr\u00e8s de deux fois plus de chances de se faire d\u00e9sintoxiquer ou de participer \u00e0 des programmes destin\u00e9s aux toxicomanes, que ceux qui n'y passaient qu'\u00e0 l'occasion. Le but vis\u00e9 n'\u00e9tait pas de laisser la toxicomanie se prolonger. C'\u00e9tait l'occasion, pour les toxicomanes, de renoncer \u00e0 la drogue. En cons\u00e9quence, on a enregistr\u00e9 un taux deux fois plus \u00e9lev\u00e9 de participation aux programmes de d\u00e9sintoxication.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477075\" data-originallang=\"en\">Lorsque le centre Insite a ouvert ses portes, le nombre des d\u00e9c\u00e8s par surdose dans le quartier Lower Eastside de Vancouver a diminu\u00e9 de 35 %. C'\u00e9tait donc environ 70 personnes par an dont on avait ainsi sauv\u00e9 la vie. Pour un seul programme, ce sont beaucoup de vies humaines qu'on a r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 sauver gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 ce centre. Quelle a \u00e9t\u00e9 la r\u00e9action du gouvernement? Il a renonc\u00e9 au principe de la r\u00e9duction des m\u00e9faits dans le traitement de la toxicomanie, et il a ferm\u00e9 le centre Insite. Par sa d\u00e9marche actuelle, il tente de court-circuiter la Cour supr\u00eame.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477076\" data-originallang=\"en\">D'apr\u00e8s une autre statistique publi\u00e9e dans un grand magazine m\u00e9dical, il y a eu 273 surdoses en un an au centre Insite, mais pas un seul d\u00e9c\u00e8s. Voil\u00e0 qui est r\u00e9v\u00e9lateur du fait que la surveillance dans un site d'injection am\u00e9liore la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 et pr\u00e9vient les d\u00e9c\u00e8s. Voil\u00e0 ce qui se passe. Si on fait la somme de ces \u00e9l\u00e9ments, et compte tenu de l'extraordinaire r\u00e9sultat des 70 vies sauv\u00e9es chaque ann\u00e9e, quelle excuse peut bien trouver le gouvernement pour pr\u00e9senter ce projet de loi?</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477077\" data-originallang=\"en\">On entend beaucoup parler, notamment de la part du gouvernement actuel, de ce qu'on appelle la prise de d\u00e9cisions fond\u00e9es sur des donn\u00e9es probantes. Ce n'est pas une notion nouvelle. Un bon gouvernement doit prendre ses d\u00e9cisions en fonction de donn\u00e9es probantes.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477078\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Qu'en est-il dans le cas qui nous occupe? Plus d'une trentaine d'\u00e9tudes jug\u00e9es par des pairs ont \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9es dans les plus grandes revues m\u00e9dicales du monde. Les d\u00e9put\u00e9s les connaissent sans doute, puisqu'on parle ici du <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>, qui figure parmi les meilleures revues m\u00e9dicales de la plan\u00e8te, du <em>Lancet</em>, revue m\u00e9dicale britannique de renom qui ne publie que des \u00e9tudes s\u00e9rieuses et de qualit\u00e9 qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 jug\u00e9es par des pairs et qui r\u00e9pondent aux normes les plus \u00e9lev\u00e9es, et du <em>British Medical Journal</em>.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477079\" data-originallang=\"en\">La trentaine d'\u00e9tudes en question d\u00e9crivent les retomb\u00e9es b\u00e9n\u00e9fiques du centre Insite. Pas de tous les centres du genre; seulement d'Insite. Certaines \u00e9tudes ont bien tent\u00e9 d'en recenser aussi les retomb\u00e9es n\u00e9gatives, mais aucune n'a r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 prouver qu'Insite avait nui \u00e0 la collectivit\u00e9.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477080\" data-originallang=\"en\">Les faits parlent clairement en faveur des centres comme Insite et montrent que ces derniers permettent de r\u00e9duire les m\u00e9faits et de sauver des vies, en plus d'aider les toxicomanes qui veulent se d\u00e9sintoxiquer et d'am\u00e9liorer la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 dans les quartiers o\u00f9 ils sont situ\u00e9s.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477081\" data-originallang=\"en\">Voil\u00e0 les faits. Voil\u00e0 les donn\u00e9es dont il faut tenir compte ici. Les centres d'injection supervis\u00e9e ont re\u00e7u l'appui de divers organismes, comme l'Association m\u00e9dicale canadienne, qu'on peut difficilement soup\u00e7onner d'\u00eatre favorable \u00e0 la consommation de drogue, ni de soutenir des comportements nocifs pour les patients ou les citoyens en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral. Or, l'association voit ces centres d'un bon oeil et n'h\u00e9site pas \u00e0 critiquer le gouvernement d'avoir pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"6254806\" href=\"/bills/41-2/C-2/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act\">C-2</a>.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477082\" data-originallang=\"en\">Qui d'autre s'est exprim\u00e9 en faveur de ces centres? L'Association des infirmi\u00e8res et infirmiers du Canada a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 ceci:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477083\" data-originallang=\"en\">Les donn\u00e9es probantes d\u00e9montrent que les services d\u2019injection sous surveillance et les autres programmes de r\u00e9duction des m\u00e9faits fournissent des services sociaux et des services de sant\u00e9 essentiels aux populations vuln\u00e9rables, en particulier aux sans-abri et aux personnes aux prises avec la pauvret\u00e9 et des probl\u00e8mes de sant\u00e9 mentale.</p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477084\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Et le meilleur est \u00e0 venir. Je poursuis:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477085\" data-originallang=\"en\">Un gouvernement r\u00e9ellement engag\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard de la sant\u00e9 et de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 publiques s\u2019efforcerait d\u2019am\u00e9liorer l\u2019acc\u00e8s aux services de pr\u00e9vention et de traitement, plut\u00f4t que de cr\u00e9er plus d\u2019obstacles.</p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"3477086\" data-originallang=\"en\">Or, que se passe-t-il actuellement? Le gouvernement cr\u00e9e de nouveaux obstacles pour les toxicomanes au lieu de les aider. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477087\" data-originallang=\"en\">St. John's-Est n'est pas \u00e0 l'abri des probl\u00e8mes associ\u00e9s \u00e0 la drogue. H\u00e9las, le ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne a pris une telle ampleur que les d\u00e9panneurs et les stations-services se font d\u00e9sormais d\u00e9valiser. Certains toxicomanes entrent par effraction chez les gens dans l'espoir de trouver assez d'argent pour acheter de la drogue. Je parle de drogue, mais il peut aussi s'agir de m\u00e9dicaments sur ordonnance. Je pense entre autres \u00e0 l'OxyContin, un m\u00e9dicament sur ordonnance tr\u00e8s populaire et extr\u00eamement addictif.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477088\" data-originallang=\"en\">Comment est-ce devenu le fl\u00e9au qui empoisonne la vie de tant de personnes? C'\u00e9tait cens\u00e9 \u00eatre un m\u00e9dicament r\u00e9serv\u00e9 aux cas extr\u00eamement rares o\u00f9 il faut soulager une douleur extr\u00eame. Je ne veux pas exag\u00e9rer, mais j'ai entendu dire qu'on le prescrit aussi couramment que n'importe quel autre analg\u00e9sique, par exemple apr\u00e8s l'extraction d'une dent de sagesse ou pour une douleur tr\u00e8s faible, alors qu'il devrait \u00eatre r\u00e9serv\u00e9 aux tr\u00e8s rares cas o\u00f9 la douleur est telle qu'il ne peut \u00eatre question de d\u00e9pendance, peut-\u00eatre parce que la personne est aux soins palliatifs ou sur le point de mourir. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477089\" data-originallang=\"en\">Dans le temps qu'il me reste, je tiens \u00e0 souligner que nous sommes aux prises avec de graves probl\u00e8mes. Des solutions existent. Le gouvernement devrait s'employer \u00e0 les chercher. Or, il va plut\u00f4t \u00e0 l'encontre de l'avis des m\u00e9decins, de l'Association des infirmi\u00e8res et infirmiers du Canada et de l'Association m\u00e9dicale canadienne ainsi que des conclusions de nombreuses \u00e9tudes scientifiques s\u00e9rieuses qui ont d\u00e9montr\u00e9 l'utilit\u00e9 de centres comme Insite \u00e0 Vancouver. Il prend des mesures qui rendent pratiquement impossible l'ouverture d'autres centres d'injection et cherchera peut-\u00eatre m\u00eame encore une fois \u00e0 faire fermer Insite quand il en aura la possibilit\u00e9. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477090\" data-originallang=\"en\">Comme je l'ai dit au d\u00e9but de mon intervention, je suis heureux d'avoir pu parler de ce projet de loi parce que je m'y oppose. Nous sommes contre cette approche. \u00c0 notre avis, c'est un projet de loi tr\u00e8s dommageable qui entra\u00eenera le d\u00e9c\u00e8s de personnes vuln\u00e9rables \u00e0 cause de leur toxicomanie en les emp\u00eachant de s'approcher de l'aide dont elles ont besoin. Elles ne pourront manifestement pas s'en approcher. Elles seront tenues \u00e0 l'\u00e9cart.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"3477091\" data-originallang=\"en\">Si les gens craignent la pr\u00e9sence d'h\u00e9ro\u00efnomanes pr\u00e8s de chez eux, ils vont trouver des toxicomanes bien plus pr\u00e8s encore s'il n'existe pas de centre comme Insite pour leur fournir des services de r\u00e9duction des m\u00e9faits, de l'aide m\u00e9dicale et des soins de sant\u00e9. </p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2013/11/21/jack-harris-2/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/jack-harris/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1063/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "8148105",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": "Initiatives Minist\u00e9rielles"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Respect for Communities Act",
        "fr": "Loi sur le respect des collectivit\u00e9s"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2013/11/21/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2F"
    }
}