Drug Reform
Owen is most noted, however, for his championing of drug policy reform.
After four years of research, Owen led local and national debate to fight drug addiction problems in Canadian cities through a "Four Pillar Approach", a comprehensive program with provisions for prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction. An 85-page action plan was passed unanimously by Vancouver City Council in May 2001. This new policy had the support of over 80 per cent of Vancouver's residents, as well as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Big City Mayor's Caucus.
As a result of the Four Pillar Approach, Vancouver opened Insite, North America's first legal safe injection site for intravenous drug users, in 2003.
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Famous quotes containing the words drug and/or reform:
“Behind the steering wheel
The boy took out his own forehead.
His girlfriend’s head was a green bag
Of narcissus stems. “OK you win
But meet me anyway at Cohen’s Drug Store
In 22 minutes.””
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“It is doubtless wise, when a reform is introduced, to try to persuade the British public that it is not a reform at all; but appearances must be kept up to some extent at least.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)