DTES remembers late Philip Owen’s Four Pillars legacy
Posted October 2, 2021 2:46 pm.
Last Updated October 2, 2021 2:47 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Those who work to help Vancouver’s drug users are remembering the legacy of late Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen.
Owen was instrumental in the establishment of the Four Pillars Drug Strategy for harm reduction for drug users. Executive Director of the Overdose Prevention Society, Sarah Blyth, said Owen’s impact is still being felt nearly 20 years since he left office.
“A lot of the rates of HIV have gone down due to harm reduction, clean needle programs, and then Insight was developed. And it couldn’t have gone through without his advocacy and working with people in the Downtown Eastside, and even including the work that we’re doing now.”
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Owen died, 88, on Thursday from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. He passed on the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court Ruling keeping Insite going — the first supervised injection site in North America.
Blyth says there needs to be more politicians like Owen, who aren’t afraid to go against their party to help people — he was pushed out as NPA leader before leaving office.
“I’ve spoken to Philip Owen over the years, and I think he would really want us to continue on this work and make sure that people are getting the help that they need and the legacy of saving lives,” she said. “I think we’ll be all very ashamed of ourselves if we don’t make some significant changes to help people.”
She adds as the overdose crisis and toxic drug supply rages on, it’s important to continue the conversation about harm reduction and how to best help people who use drugs.
“A lot of things have been implemented within the four pillars, and it’s made a lot of positive changes in reduced stigma.
“Maybe we need to take this time to relook at what the four pillars was, how it could reflect some of the state of emergency, so that we could update it.”
