Pubdate: Fri, 29 Sep 2006
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Allen Garr

REGIME CHANGES LEAVE INSITE ON THE HOOK

In the flurry of excitement that accompanied the announcement that 
Ottawa was allowing Vancouver's supervised injection site (Insite) to 
continue another 16 months, one significant fact was overlooked. 
There is even less to what the Tories have promised than you may have thought.

For Canada to meet the requirements of international treaties it has 
signed regarding heroin, Insite has to be classified as a scientific 
experiment. To validate that status, there has to be research taking 
place measuring the effects of the program on the 600 or so 
injections that occur at the site.

When the original negotiations took place to open Insite more than 
three years ago, Larry Campbell was mayor and the Liberals were in 
power in Ottawa. As Campbell tells it, he said to Ottawa, if you want 
the research, which would cost $500,000 a year, you pay for it. And 
they did, for a total of $1.5 million.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Coastal Health paid to run the site at a cost of 
$2 million a year.

As a result of the most recent federal announcement, for the next 16 
months Vancouver Coastal will still pick up the bill for operations. 
But the feds, now Tories, have refused to pay for the research, all 
the while insisting it must continue in order for Insite to stay open.

That was made clear in a letter dated Sept. 11, 2006 and signed by 
Federal Minister of Health Tony Clement. He informed Vancouver 
Coastal, "the Government of Canada will not provide funding to 
conduct the research."

Vancouver Coastal's lead bureaucrat on Insite, Heather Hay, has 
confirmed that, as a result, her organization is on the hook for 
about $700,000. It doesn't have the money in its operating budget 
and, at this point, hasn't figured where the money will come from to 
deal with this downloading.

Even though Victoria is awash with cash and clearly supports Insite, 
there is reluctance to knock on their door. Private funding agencies 
are a possibility, but until the money is secured, Insite is in 
jeopardy of closing.

We know Prime Minister Stephen Harper was never a fan of this project 
or the principles of harm reduction as we understand them. He finds 
the United States' so-called War on Drugs a more attractive model 
especially since he's doing everything to ingratiate himself with 
George W. Bush.

The 16-month extension just gets Harper past the next election. His 
minister of health refers to it as a "deferred decision."

We have a different government in Ottawa and, of course, we have a 
different mayor, Sam Sullivan.

Sullivan makes a great deal of the fact that he has easy access to 
the prime minister's office; that he regularly discusses his lengthy 
shopping list of requests with federal ministers.

For all the frequent flyer points he continues to rack up, you may 
well wonder just what he's accomplished, particularly on this issue.

He was among the throng supporting the continuation of Insite. But he 
left it to others to do the passionate campaigning.

For all of his connections, all we got was a deferred decision and we 
got stiffed for the research money.

Clement tipped Sullivan first on the announcement Insite would be 
extended 16 months. He obediently broke the news saying he was "very 
pleased" and followed that with a similarly obsequious press release.

He has said nothing about the research money.

Meanwhile Harper and his minister of health are seeking counsel from 
the RCMP and the Canadian Professional Police Association. Both are 
dead set against supervised injection sites.

As for Sullivan, he's suddenly decided to go on another road trip-a 
convenient diversion from criticism within his own party that he 
seems to lack direction. He wants to see how cities in Europe deal 
with drugs and social disorder. As for the details, they are still 
being worked out.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine