As a resident of Gastown and Chinatown for the past 10 years, the 47-year-old has seen the bottom end of what addiction can do to a person. There's the poor health, the crime and the hopelessness. He wants to change that.
And he's in a good position to make change because of his connection to Mayor Sam Sullivan. Holtzman is the independent consultant overseeing the mayor's controversial treatment plan for drug addicts.
The plan calls for doctors to prescribe legal drugs to people with long-time addictions. Street prostitutes and chronic offenders comprise the population at which the treatment program is aimed.
"When people are on maintenance programs, they can live more productive lives," said Holtzman, noting the goal is to reach up to 800 people. "And because they're stable, they can make better choices."
The type of legal drugs to be used in the program hasn't been determined but Holtzman pointed out that dexamphetamine-a stimulant that increases the activity of certain chemicals in the brain-has been used successfully in other countries to stabilize crystal methamphetamine addicts.
To put the plan into action, Health Canada must approve an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Holtzman is working with medical doctors and consulting various agencies in writing the proposal.
He expects to send it to Health Canada before mid-February.
"Sure, it's a bold initiative but I think anyone who's an adult in Canada sees what's going on [with the drug problem] that just attacking it from a criminal place is not helping," he said. "So we have to try something different."
Money to operate the program will be channelled through a nonprofit society that Holtzman will form. Dr. Donald Rix of MDS Metro Laboratory Services has promised $50,000 and Marco Romero of Polaris Minerals Corporation committed to $10,000.
Another $500,000 was to come from B.C. philanthropist John Lefebvre, who was arrested in California two weeks ago by the FBI for allegedly conspiring to promote illegal gambling.
"No one has made a donation yet to the society as the society doesn't yet exist," Holtzman said. "We are expecting some significant support but we are not yet at that place."
The society will include an ethics committee composed of the province's medical health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, Dr. David Marsh of Vancouver Coastal Health and Dr. John Blatherwick, the city's medical health officer.
The mayor said he asked Holtzman to oversee the proposal because of his experience as the former executive director of A Loving Spoonful and Leadership Vancouver.
"I'm very impressed with his abilities to work with a wide variety of people," Sullivan said. "He has demonstrated great organizational abilities and he's able to bring diverse groups of people together on very difficult issues."
Holtzman has a B.A. in economics from Simon Fraser University and an M.A. in leadership and training from Royal Roads University. He is not being paid for his work on the drug plan.
"I love the city and volunteerism is in my blood," he said.
His day job is "senior knowledge exchange specialist" at the Canadian Council on Learning, an organization focused on community development through the sharing of knowledge.
He's optimistic Health Canada will approve the plan, although he is aware Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement has to sign off on the plan. Clement refused to extend the city's supervised injection site for another three years and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said his government won't use taxpayers' money to fund illegal drug use.
"We're not planning to use illegal drugs," Holtzman added. "I would say the majority of Canadians know that [we have to try something different] and therefore any government that wants to get re-elected probably needs to pay attention."
