News&features EDITOR BONNIELEELAMADLEINE | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 | THE VOICE Walking, texting & talking Multi-tasking sidewalk pedestrians may share part of the blame in accidents = By SHOJI WHITTIER arch is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, so dis- tracted pedestrians are not getting much attention from ICBC. Last fall, an Insights West poll showed that 66 per cent of Canadians would support legislation to prohibit distracted walking, or being distracted by a hand-held cellphone while on a roadway. According to ICBC, about 2,400 pedestrians were injured in crashes in B.C. over the past five years. Sam Corea, ICBC’s senior communications specialist, says it’s unknown how many of those incidents involved distracted pedestrians. “When you're reporting a pedestrian being hurt, it’s kind of difficult to find out because there’s no claim there at that point, unless there’s a claim at- tached to the vehicle,” Corea said. However, students at Langara are “People don't have the hand eye coodination.” —JOSIAH MORRIS, STUDENT frustrated by distracted pedestrians. Peace and conflicts student, Josiah Morris, said he thinks most people can’t handle walking and talking on their phones. “People don’t have the hand eye coor- dination to do all these things at once,” Morris said. He said they need to learn to walk down the street, have a conver- sation, and still be aware of cars going 40-50 kilometres per hour. Others, like Women’s Studies student Naiah Albacea, take note of when and where they check their phones when out on the street. “Whenever I walk, I make sure there’s no one around me, if there’s like a bunch of people, I try not to do it as much,” Albacea said. i Monday night. sasHa LAKic PHOTO Susan Boyd, from the University of Victoria, fields a question about heroin-assisted therapy during a panel discussion hosted by Simon Fraser University on Stopping OD deaths first Group seeks more heroin-assisted treatment options m™ By SASHA LAKIC s fentanyl continues to kill drug users in British Co- lumbia, physicians and ac- tivists are piloting a heroin- assisted treatment that may help reduce the death toll. At a discussion at SFU campus in Gastown on Monday night, those ac- tivists presented their recommenda- tions to stop opioid overdoses. Clinical trials with hydromorphone, commonly known as Dilaudid, showed that both the crime and the risks associated with injecting opioids are reduced when these drugs are administered in a safe environment. However, the panel said stigma still prevents these methods from being widely used. D. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at the Providence Crosstown Clinic, said they are trying to stop people from dying. “Abstinence is not the goal of hydro- morphone therapy.” He said the licensed drug is as effec- tive as pharmaceutical heroin, and that instances of street-acquired opioids fall dramatically, in communities where this therapy has been used. It may also be a more cost effective use of public funds. MacDonald said that tax payers would pay $27,000 per year for someone who is in a therapy program as opposed to $45,000 per year for a person who buys drugs on the street. “There needs to be medical interven- tion that is part of health care,” he said. He would like to see interventions be- come part of the provincial approach to treating drug addiction. Dave Murray, who represents an advocacy group made up of participat- ing trial patients called Solome/Naomi Association of Patients, said heroin- assisted treatment has been used suc- cessfully in Switzerland, and would like to see it used here. He said if that Di- laudid works for the patients in the trial, it should be used more widely. Previous attempts to introduce medi- cal intervention were met with legal challenges by the federal government, which argued that public safety was at risk with easier access to drugs. In al- liance with the Providence clinic and participating patients, Douglas King, lawyer with the PIVOT legal society, started a constitutional challenge in 2013 on the basis that the government was discriminating against people with disabilities and putting them at risk. Despite the criticism leveled on our current government, King said the one thing they did right was to openly al- low for heroin-assisted treatment in Vancouver. ADDICTION REPONSE THE COST TO TAXPAYERS » $45,000 The cost to taxpayers for health- care, legal costs and other cost for a single user of illicit drugs. » $25,000 The cost per patient at the Cross- town clinic. » $150,000 Estimated savings to taxpayers if harm reduction and therapy are used to help treat drug addicts. SOURCE: PROVIDENCE HEALTH CARE Renovations are underway inside the McBarge: a pile of foam, metal, and wood are piled inside the main area. susMiTTED PHOTO McBarge still unmoored Floating fast- food restaurant may drop anchor in new harbour = By LAURA BROUGHAM cBarge may have started as a fast-food outlet, but there are no fast answers about its business future. The barge, originally built as the first floating McDonalds for Vancouver’s Expo °86, moved to Maple Ridge for renovations after mooring in Burrard Inlet for 30 years. Howard Meakin bought the barge in 1999. He is nearly ready to share the changes on the hori- zon for the McBarge (Friendship 500). “It’s an exciting venue, it’s world class,” Meakin said. “It will appeal to all people and all countries.” Tight-lipped Meakin did say is that the barge will look different than people remember. “The roof has to be completely re- placed, and we’re putting a new roof- deck on it, and it will actually have quite a nice p— display area on the roof deck as well.” He didn't give details. “That’s the se- cret,” Meakin laughed. David Eaton, “Looking at the area now, you can't even tell there was a World Exposition there. This [barge] would bea Suzan Stamenkovic, a travel account manager at Brave New World Travel, used to work on the McBarge, and said that she hopes they return the barge to False Creek, as a way to honour the — Expo. “I would ac- tually really like to see it back in False Creek, and turned back into a McDon- alds,” Stamen- kovic said in an email. “Looking the —_ architect . " at the area now, working on the perfect reminder. you can’t even project, said — SUZAN STAMENKOVIC tell there was a two places are TRAVEL MANAGER World Exposi- being consid- L_ tion there. This ered to anchor — would be a per- the barge. fect reminder, be a ‘living’ reminder of “We’re looking at two locations, both have different timelines, both have dif- ferent aspects to them that make them quite unique in their solutions,” said Eaton. what was and how exciting and lively the city was then.” For those curious about McBarge's future, Eaton said, “Stay tuned, I guess that’s all we can tell you.”