Discarded kits of drug paraphernalia are often found near school grounds, such as Cambridge Street Public School (above) and playgrounds, endangering children who find them.
Ontario’s decision to fund a Centretown crack pipe program has left some area residents wondering whose safety is more important – theirs or drug users.
“There’s no concern for the children, just for drug addicts,” said Stephanie Strudwick, a local neighbourhood watch co-ordinator.
Her district includes the area surrounding the Somerset West Community Health Centre, which recently acquired $287,000 in provincial funding for its crack pipe program, despite objections from some city councillors and Mayor Larry O'Brien.
Strudwick said the community is especially concerned the program will undermine its efforts to clean up the neighbourhood.
“We were elated when the city cancelled the program,” said Strudwick, referring to council’s decision last summer to cancel the city’s crack pipe program.
“We fought hard against it,” she said.
She said she sees no distinction between distributing the pipes and encouraging drug use.
This is bound to bring drug dealers and prostitutes back into the area, she added.
According to Strudwick, this is when used condoms and syringes, as well as broken glass pipes are found in and around area schools, among other places.
When she heard that Jack McCarthy, executive director of Somerset West Community Health Centre, had asked the provincial government for the funding, she said she and other community representatives voiced their concerns to him.
“We made our concerns very clear,” she said. “We said we loved to see the $287,000 go to a treatment facility that would rehabilitate people, not just facilitate (drug use).”
But rehabilitation, according to McCarthy, is only one of four elements of a common strategy used to combat drug addiction. The others are enforcement, prevention and harm reduction, the area that crack pipe distribution falls under.
“I understand their concerns and I take them very seriously,” said McCarthy, who is also a father and a neighbourhood resident.
That is why, he said, the centre has implemented programs to address those concerns.
He said the health centre has set up drop boxes at the clinic and has been speaking with users in the community, encouraging them to return their used pipes and syringes.
“We’re doing the best we can,” said McCarthy.
But that is not good enough for Shayne Smith, a volunteer with the community’s Safety Walk, a patrol program implemented as part of the clean-up effort.
He said he finds most used pipes, syringes and condoms on or near school property.
Empty school parking lots, according to Smith, provide prostitutes and drug users with the opportunity to carry out their activities in private.
“This is a family community and we want to keep it a family community,” said Smith.
“What about my kids? What about the kids in the community who are picking up needles at their schools?”
Smith said he opposes the idea of his tax dollars being spent on a program that harms his community.
“What’s next? Do we start buying them good crack because they’re not getting the good stuff?” said Smith.
But Jay Koornstra, of Bruce House, a Centretown HIV and AIDS advocacy organization, said such fears are driven by a handful of city councillors and the police, who have been equating crack pipe distribution with facilitating drug use.
“This is an argument that’s been charged by some people’s moral outrage,” he said.
He said the city’s drug strategy relies too heavily on enforcement and not enough on prevention, rehabilitation and harm reduction.
“People will use drugs whether we provide them with crack pipes or not,” he said.
“Yes, we do need treatment facilities, but for now, what do we do? Harm them more?”
Koornstra said one of the main issues is the community and its members.
“(Drug users) are our fellow community members and we all need to start working together to reduce the harm to our communities,” he said.