Drug Addiction

General Observations:

Some participants mentioned their personal confusion regarding drug addiction on a few occasions. The others never openly stated feeling any confusion related to drug addiction, however the whole group illustrated varying views on the causes of drug addiction, which came out during discussion. This indicated a general lack of clarity among the participants.

A few papticipants stated that you cannont help those who do not want help. Incidentally this is Insite's strategy; not to pressure heroin users to stop, but rather to be ready to help them the moment they are ready. This approach recognized the small window for supplying treatment, which many traditional services cannot catch. This connect was not made at any time by the participants.

In the media many critics of Insite often complain of the cost, which they feel is either too high, or could be better spent. Cost was not mentioned at any point by any participant. This may indicate that they wer unaware of the cost or that the cost is not of concern.

When first asked to write down what they think of when they heard the words drug addiction, most participants made associations related to mental health; depression, loneliness, mental illness and traumatic or abusive past experiences were mentioned frequently. There were also numerous mentions of powerlessness and vulnerability.

Generally the first thing that came to people’s minds regarding drug addiction were shaped from their personal experiences, as their explanations indicated.

When many participants asked about causes of drug addiction first mentioned societal causes. Only one or two suggested the cause was poor choices and the part of the addict.

There was agreement among participants that ther...

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...onal negative rguemnt that they had heard, but which they did not necessarily precribe to. They had heard opponants argue that it encourages drug use and sends a mixed user.

The participants were asked to place stickers next to the two most important positive and negatives features of Insite. They select prevention of desease and access to health services. For the negative there was general consensu that they only selected negatives becuase thy had to, but they did not feel that strongly towards any of the negative selections. They overwelmingly selected, that the program was only reaching a small group of drug users. They felt the main downfall was with the scope of Insite rather than the servics or principle of harm reduction.

They all agreed that Insite was a health service provider and for the most part did not feel Insite had any effect on overall drug use.