Chronic addiction substitution treatment
Chronic Addiction Substitution Treatment (CAST) is a policy adopted by Vancouver City Council in 2007[1] to reduce the harms of drug prohibition by providing substitutes to those with addictions.
Overview
CAST attempts to reduce the spread of disease, homelessness and crime, by replacing illegal opiates with methadone, nicotine or other substitutes.
History
Vancouver has a long history of innovation in drug treatment. The first Methadone Maintenance Treatment program was developed in Vancouver. For 15 years, Vancouver had the only supervised injection site: Insite.
CAST was developed by Mayor Sam Sullivan as a result of his experience with the overdose crisis of the 1990s. He formed an organization called Inner Change to advocate for and manage the program[2].
The policy was opposed by opposition Council members and narrowly passed with the votes of his party 6 to 5 even though it was unpopular with some in his core base.
Subsequent efforts
After Sullivan was ousted from his party he focused on raising funds to implement the SALOME research trials[3]. This proved that alternatives could be used for heroin. Despite the success of the research no program was instituted by the time the fentanyl crisis hit the province
References
- ^ "Drug substitution and maintenance treatment" (PDF). Council. Vancouver. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "About Sam Sullivan". Global Civic Policy Society.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Sam Sullivan speaks about SALOME". AHA Media. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
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