[Wamvan] Fwd: Fighting for access to harm reduction services

[Tami Starlight]

    Email not displaying correctly? View it in your
browser.<http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=01a0a28a5e&e=0de74ccece>
 <http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=8bb56ed732&e=0de74ccece>
   Dear Tami,

It's been an exciting month for Pivot's Health and Drug Policy
Campaign<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=16d6ec4be0&e=0de74ccece>.
We've been in Abbotsford and Victoria, working with community groups to
support their fight to bring life-saving harm reduction services to the
people who need them most.

Since releasing our Yes in my Backyard
toolkit<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=d2c4649b97&e=0de74ccece>last
fall, we have become much more aware of the barriers people with
addictions face in accessing harm reduction services in municipalities
around the province. "Not in my backyard" campaigns have resulted in
significant restrictions on needle distribution and methadone maintenance
treatment in a number of BC communities.

For example, Abbotsford enacted a zoning by-law that essentially prohibits
harm reduction services – including mobile vans dispensing clean needles –
from operating anywhere in the city. At the end of May, I joined a
delegation appearing before the Abbotsford City Council Executive Committee
asking them to rescind the municipality’s anti-harm reduction by-law. When
I had my chance to address the Mayor and council, I told them that the
City’s blanket ban on harm reduction services violates the constitutional
rights of drug users and that the City does not in fact have the legal
authority to pass bylaws that intrude on the province’s role in setting
health care policy.

Check out legal intern Fathima Cader’s blog post about the situation in
Abbotsford<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=1345064157&e=0de74ccece>to
learn more.

A few days after our trip to Abbotsford, we made our way to Victoria. Four
years ago, Council shut down the city’s only fixed-site needle distribution
program in response to community opposition. Local organizations marked the
anniversary of that closure with a series of events that together comprised
“Community Solidarity for Harm Reduction Week.”  Pivot was there, sharing
our experiences from Vancouver and learning about the situation in
Victoria. We attended the Peer Convergence, spoke at a community forum on
why Insite won, and ran a workshop about shifting communities from NIMBY to
YIMBY.

Visit our blog to read all about our trip to
Victoria<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=2824494964&e=0de74ccece>

Abbotsford and Victoria are two very different communities. What connects
them is the lack of access to basic public health services like needle
distribution. This is shocking to those of us who have seen clean needle
programs become accepted as a necessary component of the health care
services offered in the Downtown Eastside.  We've witnessed the postive
public health impacts of that policy shift. Lack of access to health
services for drug users has a profound impact on their health, which leads
to harms for them and for the communities they live in. That is why we will
continue to join forces with drug users, community groups and health
organizations across the province to support the fight for health and human
rights for drug users and empower people everywhere to say “yes, in my
backyard.”

Sincerely.

Scott Bernstein, health and drug policy campaigner

<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=c4d29987fa&e=0de74ccece><http://twitter.com/pivot_legal><http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=a6bebc4a3a&e=0de74ccece>

  Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using
the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of
those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income,
benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such as
opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.

<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=0ec5aed856&e=0de74ccece&c=01a0a28a5e>

Our mailing address is:
Pivot
121 Heatley Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6A 3E9
Canada

Add us to your address
book<http://pivotlegal.us1.list-manage.com/vcard?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=0ec5aed856>

Copyright (C) 2008 Pivot All rights reserved.

Forward<http://us1.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=9a451e878eeec0a3e584da1a3&id=01a0a28a5e&e=0de74ccece>this
email to a friend
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/wamvan/attachments/20120611/85f2d413/attachment.html>