T
The420Guy
Guest
Public support for decriminalizing marijuana has grown while an
exceptional number back city's proposed strategy on drugs, poll shows
Softer on marijuana legalization but heroin unchanged Vancouverites'
views on addiction.
Vancouver residents have become tired of the traditional war on drugs.
In just three years, support among city residents for decriminalizing
marijuana has grown from 47 per cent to 57 per cent. An unusually high
61 per cent say they support the medical use of heroin for drug
treatment.
And an exceptional number support the city's proposed new drug
strategy, even endorsing the plan's most controversial recommendation
-- setting up a task force to consider setting up safe drug-injection
sites.
Those were the results from a $14,000 public-opinion survey conducted
for the city of Vancouver in December to give city staff and
politicians information about public reaction to the proposed drug
strategy announced in November.
The strategy emphasizes a "four-pillar" approach, with improvements
suggested for enforcement, treatment, harm reduction and prevention
that would help save lives, keep people healthier, reduce drug use,
and improve public order in the open drug markets of Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside.
Pollster Joan McIntyre, whose company Joan McIntyre Market and Opinion
Research conducted the survey in conjunction with McIntyre/Mustel,
said the overwhelming support for the city's strategy was unusual for
her to see in polling.
"The results are very dramatic. It's rare to see results that are so
positive."
Many contentious social public-policy issues produce polarized results
in B.C. polls, she said, with the public often splitting 50-50.
But she said the kind of responses people gave to the poll's several
dozen questions about various aspects of the city's policy showed
support at a level equal to the kind usually seen for issues such as
universal access to health care or wildlife preservation.
Even the recommendation that has been the most controversial part of
the 30-point plan, to set up a task force to consider developing
safe-injection sites, got unusual support, although it got less
support than other parts of the plan, she said.
Thirty-eight per cent of people strongly supported the idea --
significantly more than the 26 per cent of those who both strongly or
somewhat opposed it -- and another 33 per cent supported it generally.
The only other city strategy that got a similar lukewarm response was
the proposal to expand and decentralize needle-exchange services.
Again, although support was lower than for other parts of the
strategy, it still got 68 per cent support.
Simon Fraser University Professor Bruce Alexander, author of Peaceful
Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs, says he isn't
surprised by the survey's findings.
"It's no shocker," said the professor, who sees similar trends in the
opinions of the students he teaches.
"People are willing to listen to both sides of the argument," he said,
noting that public fear often prevents rational discussion of the
social costs and actual danger of drugs like marijuana and heroin.
"The public is becoming less knee-jerk about it."
McIntyre agreed, citing the results of a survey she did for the city
three years ago to gauge public attitudes to drugs, when the mayor's
coalition on crime and safety was just beginning.
At that time, the city was polarized on the issue of marijuana, with
47 per cent supporting decriminalization and 41 per cent opposing it.
That has now shifted, so that 57 per cent of the city residents
surveyed supported or strongly supported decriminalization, while
opposition dropped to 31 per cent.
People are still as opposed to legalizing heroin as they were three
years ago, with 74 per cent still opposed, and only small increases in
those supporting it.
But the new poll showed considerable support for using heroin for drug
treatment. Thirty-two per cent of those surveyed strongly supported
it, another 29 per cent somewhat supported it, and only 23 per cent
were opposed. The issue of giving medically prescribed heroin to
long-time addicts has received a significant amount of media attention
in Vancouver over the past three years, as the city and community
groups have looked around the world to places like Switzerland and
Germany for solutions to the city's drug problem.
The survey comes at a critical time for the city. It is currently
holding forums to get public response to its plan, with the intention
of finalizing its drug strategy by April.
The strategy has deeply divided council, with Councillors Lynne
Kennedy, Don Lee and Daniel Lee opposed, and rookie Councillor Sandy
McCormick showing signs of sympathizing with the opposition. On the
other side, Mayor Philip Owen has championed the strategy, staking his
political career on it some say, with Councillors Jennifer Clarke,
George Puil and Sam Sullivan from his own party in support, along with
Councillors Tim Louis and Fred Bass from the opposition party.
A coalition of business owners and residents in neighbourhoods
surrounding the Downtown Eastside has been militantly opposed to the
city's strategy, saying it puts too much emphasis on harm reduction
and not enough on prevention, treatment and enforcement.
In response to questions from councillors, McIntyre said the poll
wasn't detailed enough to allow her to say how attitudes varied from
neighbourhood to neighbourhood. She also couldn't say what percentage
of the respondents came from Vancouver's high number of ethnic
minority households where English is a second language.
A few questions in the survey showed some slight regional differences.
For instance, people east of Main were the most in support of a task
force to look at establishing safe-injection sites, with those from
the downtown showing the highest level of opposition, and west siders
in the middle.
The survey did not, however, indicate that people do not believe in
enforcement. Questions about increasing enforcement, instituting
mandatory treatment for repeated criminals who are addicts, and
setting up drug courts all got extremely high levels of support, in
the high 80 per cent range.
The pollsters surveyed 300 residents and said the results are
considered accurate within plus or minus 5.7 percentage points, 19
times out of 20.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2000 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: Vancouver Sun
Pubdate: Wednesday 31 January 2001
Author: Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun
exceptional number back city's proposed strategy on drugs, poll shows
Softer on marijuana legalization but heroin unchanged Vancouverites'
views on addiction.
Vancouver residents have become tired of the traditional war on drugs.
In just three years, support among city residents for decriminalizing
marijuana has grown from 47 per cent to 57 per cent. An unusually high
61 per cent say they support the medical use of heroin for drug
treatment.
And an exceptional number support the city's proposed new drug
strategy, even endorsing the plan's most controversial recommendation
-- setting up a task force to consider setting up safe drug-injection
sites.
Those were the results from a $14,000 public-opinion survey conducted
for the city of Vancouver in December to give city staff and
politicians information about public reaction to the proposed drug
strategy announced in November.
The strategy emphasizes a "four-pillar" approach, with improvements
suggested for enforcement, treatment, harm reduction and prevention
that would help save lives, keep people healthier, reduce drug use,
and improve public order in the open drug markets of Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside.
Pollster Joan McIntyre, whose company Joan McIntyre Market and Opinion
Research conducted the survey in conjunction with McIntyre/Mustel,
said the overwhelming support for the city's strategy was unusual for
her to see in polling.
"The results are very dramatic. It's rare to see results that are so
positive."
Many contentious social public-policy issues produce polarized results
in B.C. polls, she said, with the public often splitting 50-50.
But she said the kind of responses people gave to the poll's several
dozen questions about various aspects of the city's policy showed
support at a level equal to the kind usually seen for issues such as
universal access to health care or wildlife preservation.
Even the recommendation that has been the most controversial part of
the 30-point plan, to set up a task force to consider developing
safe-injection sites, got unusual support, although it got less
support than other parts of the plan, she said.
Thirty-eight per cent of people strongly supported the idea --
significantly more than the 26 per cent of those who both strongly or
somewhat opposed it -- and another 33 per cent supported it generally.
The only other city strategy that got a similar lukewarm response was
the proposal to expand and decentralize needle-exchange services.
Again, although support was lower than for other parts of the
strategy, it still got 68 per cent support.
Simon Fraser University Professor Bruce Alexander, author of Peaceful
Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs, says he isn't
surprised by the survey's findings.
"It's no shocker," said the professor, who sees similar trends in the
opinions of the students he teaches.
"People are willing to listen to both sides of the argument," he said,
noting that public fear often prevents rational discussion of the
social costs and actual danger of drugs like marijuana and heroin.
"The public is becoming less knee-jerk about it."
McIntyre agreed, citing the results of a survey she did for the city
three years ago to gauge public attitudes to drugs, when the mayor's
coalition on crime and safety was just beginning.
At that time, the city was polarized on the issue of marijuana, with
47 per cent supporting decriminalization and 41 per cent opposing it.
That has now shifted, so that 57 per cent of the city residents
surveyed supported or strongly supported decriminalization, while
opposition dropped to 31 per cent.
People are still as opposed to legalizing heroin as they were three
years ago, with 74 per cent still opposed, and only small increases in
those supporting it.
But the new poll showed considerable support for using heroin for drug
treatment. Thirty-two per cent of those surveyed strongly supported
it, another 29 per cent somewhat supported it, and only 23 per cent
were opposed. The issue of giving medically prescribed heroin to
long-time addicts has received a significant amount of media attention
in Vancouver over the past three years, as the city and community
groups have looked around the world to places like Switzerland and
Germany for solutions to the city's drug problem.
The survey comes at a critical time for the city. It is currently
holding forums to get public response to its plan, with the intention
of finalizing its drug strategy by April.
The strategy has deeply divided council, with Councillors Lynne
Kennedy, Don Lee and Daniel Lee opposed, and rookie Councillor Sandy
McCormick showing signs of sympathizing with the opposition. On the
other side, Mayor Philip Owen has championed the strategy, staking his
political career on it some say, with Councillors Jennifer Clarke,
George Puil and Sam Sullivan from his own party in support, along with
Councillors Tim Louis and Fred Bass from the opposition party.
A coalition of business owners and residents in neighbourhoods
surrounding the Downtown Eastside has been militantly opposed to the
city's strategy, saying it puts too much emphasis on harm reduction
and not enough on prevention, treatment and enforcement.
In response to questions from councillors, McIntyre said the poll
wasn't detailed enough to allow her to say how attitudes varied from
neighbourhood to neighbourhood. She also couldn't say what percentage
of the respondents came from Vancouver's high number of ethnic
minority households where English is a second language.
A few questions in the survey showed some slight regional differences.
For instance, people east of Main were the most in support of a task
force to look at establishing safe-injection sites, with those from
the downtown showing the highest level of opposition, and west siders
in the middle.
The survey did not, however, indicate that people do not believe in
enforcement. Questions about increasing enforcement, instituting
mandatory treatment for repeated criminals who are addicts, and
setting up drug courts all got extremely high levels of support, in
the high 80 per cent range.
The pollsters surveyed 300 residents and said the results are
considered accurate within plus or minus 5.7 percentage points, 19
times out of 20.
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2000 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: Vancouver Sun
Pubdate: Wednesday 31 January 2001
Author: Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun
