Self reports, asking a drug addict if he or she is using drugs, are notoriously inaccurate.
Many drug addicts lie about drug use. "I'm in recovery ... I'm in treatment" are classic excuses a drug addict uses when being arrested for property crimes. We know that relapses and lapses into drug and alcohol use will occur frequently in these drug addict supportive housing projects. 1
"We found a substantial negative effect on subsequent disclosure of continued cocaine use." 2 Plain English: People in treatment, are more likely to lie about drug use.
After treatment, 49% lied about cocaine use and 33% lied about heroin use. 3
The Masters Degree, highly educated, highly experienced case managers (health care professional) who knew their clients (drug addict) for at least 1 year. One half of them knew their clients for more than 5 years. On average only about 60% of the time, were the professionals able to tell if someone was using drugs again. 40% of the time the professional health care worker missed the drug use. 4
City Hall's supportive housing operational plan is:
- Get the drug addict to sign a good neighbour agreement promising to be a good neighbour.
- If a relapse occurs, get the addict to recommit to abstinence.
- Relapse rates will be reported to City Council in a yearly report.
City Hall claims that they will be able to develop individual relapse prevention and response plans to prevent relapses in great numbers and quickly respond to relapsers. This claim, like many others about supportive housing City Hall has made, is completely unsubstantiated.
City Hall has NO plans to test the tenants in supportive housing for drug use. There will be NO urinalysis, or hair analysis or breath analysis to detect drug or alcohol use.6 Instead, City Hall will rely on the desk clerk quickly detecting drug use and the drug addict tenant quickly admitting to a relapse. This is ridiculous.
- Why is the City expecting our drug addicts to be most honest than other drug addicts? That they'll tell someone when they are using drugs?
- Why is the City expecting our health care professionals to be any better than other health care professionals in detecting drug use?
City Hall's supportive housing strategy is another example of bad planning; relying and believing in their own propaganda. City Hall made the Downtown Eastside what it is today. They are planning to do the same to other Vancouver neighbourhoods beginning with a policy of dispersing so called "abstinent-contingent" supportive housing for drug addicts throughout Vancouver's neighbourhoods.
Published February 25, 2007.