‘We need to bridge this increasing divide:’ Bringing together harm reduction with treatment and recovery

“This is really a way of making sure there is no impediment to getting a space, that spaces are available and free. And this treats the addiction as what it is, which is a health issue,” added Milobar.

During his speech on Thursday, Falcon said he believes the NDP have been laser focused on harm reduction and have left recovery on the sidelines. ASK Wellness CEO Bob Hughes believes the solution needed is to bridge the two pillars.

“I think we need to bridge this increasing divided response in our community of harm reduction and treatment, recovery on the other side. We need to be able to show the province and the public how these come together,” said Hughes.

ASK Wellness has been on the front lines of recovery with Maverick House. While Hughes was happy to see the bold plan from the Liberals, he believes all parties will need to work together to achieve the desired outcome.

“We all have a common interest in seeing our community’s issues with homelessness, crime and watching people literally dying on our streets, that we all have a common interest to do the compassionate, meaningful and accountable response to this issue,” said Hughes.

Part of the opposition plan is to, in select cases, force patients who are a danger to themselves into recovery programs. Milobar noted that part of the plan may not be acted upon as quickly as the rest.

“That might take a little bit longer than the other steps. But, what is the problem with making sure that our 50, 60, 75 per cent of people out there who actually do want treatment who aren’t able to get it right now, start receiving that treatment as fast as possible, without a cost being a barrier. Would that still not at least make the problem way better than it currently is?” questioned Milobar.

Milobar noted this is likely the first of many platform-style announcements coming from the B.C. Liberals as they get an early jump on the next election campaign.

by Michael Reeve

‘We need to bridge this increasing divide:’ Bringing together harm reduction with treatment and recovery

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