Pubdate: Thu, 17 Apr 2008
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Georgia Straight
Contact:  http://www.straight.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1084
Authors: Dr. Thomas Kerr, and Dr. Evan Wood
Note: Dr. Thomas Kerr and Dr. Evan Wood are research scientists at 
the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and assistant 
professors in the UBC department of medicine.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/insite  (Insite)

STEPHEN HARPER'S GOVERNMENT HAS NO LOVE OF SCIENCE

The principal role of science in society is to advance human 
understanding. Unfortunately, in modern times a host of political 
masters have invested considerable energy and resources in an effort 
to cloud science. The primary goal of such efforts is to manufacture 
uncertainty about the world we live in.

The politicization of science is not a new problem. Junk science was 
used to justify and then deny the Holocaust, and with Stalin, 
scientists were under strict ideological control. In more recent 
times, science has taken a beating at the hands of various 
industries, special-interest groups, and politicians. Instances 
deserving of special mention include the tobacco industry's efforts 
to misrepresent and politicize the science showing that smoking is 
harmful and Exxon Mobil's donation of more than $16 million to 
various organizations working to refute the science specific to climate change.

The Bush administration has also been singled out for its poor 
treatment of science. According to a survey by the Union of Concerned 
Scientists, one-fifth of U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists 
reported being asked, for nonscientific reasons, to exclude or alter 
information or conclusions in an FDA scientific document. The Union 
of Concerned Scientists has been so outraged by the Bush 
administration's treatment of science that it dedicated a full report 
to the topic. According to the report, the administration has 
repeatedly placed unqualified individuals or individuals with 
conflicts of interest in official posts, censored and suppressed 
government reports, and misrepresented scientific knowledge in an 
effort to mislead the public.

Although this problem has been evident for some time and has been 
seen in countries throughout the world, it has been less well 
publicized in Canada. However, with the rise of the Stephen Harper 
government, Canada too has been singled out for its mistreatment of 
science. For example, a February editorial in the prestigious journal 
Nature slammed the Harper government for muzzling Environment Canada 
scientists and for closing the office of the national science adviser.

The scientific evaluation of Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection 
site, has also been challenging for the Harper government. The Tories 
clearly favour a get-tough, U.S.-style, "war on drugs" approach, and 
in their new "anti-drug strategy" there is no room for 
public-health-based strategies such as supervised injection sites 
that fall under the rubric of "harm reduction"-despite the wealth of 
scientific evidence to support these interventions.

As scientists, we were contracted by Vancouver Coastal Health to 
conduct an arm's-length evaluation of Insite. After three years of 
evaluation, we published 22 studies that described the impacts of 
Insite. These studies appeared in various peer-reviewed medical 
journals-including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, 
and the British Medical Journal-and showed that Insite was doing 
exactly what it was set up to do. This fairly small and simple 
public-health program was contributing to reductions in the number of 
people injecting in public and the number of discarded syringes on 
city streets. Insite was also helping to reduce HIV-risk behaviour 
and likely saving lives that might otherwise have been lost to fatal 
overdose. We also found a 30-percent increase in the use of 
detoxification programs among Insite users in the year after the site 
opened. Potential harms were ruled out as research showed that the 
opening of Insite did not increase crime or lead more vulnerable 
citizens to take up injection-drug use.

Despite this large body of scientific evidence, the Harper government 
remained unconvinced of the merits of Insite. Harper stated publicly 
that he would look to the RCMP for their evaluation of Insite, and 
when asked to renew the federal exemption that allows Insite to 
operate legally, Health Minister Tony Clement gave a brief extension 
and called for more research. The RCMP did end up paying SFU 
criminology professor Ray Corrado to conduct an external evaluation 
of our research. Although Corrado fully agreed with our findings, 
Clement was unconvinced. He gave Insite another brief extension, 
called for yet more research, and formed a national "expert advisory 
committee" to commission new research and comment on the state of the 
evidence pertaining to Insite.

Last week, the expert advisory committee released its report. It 
stated that Insite is helping to reduce public disorder, HIV-risk 
behaviour, and overdose risks, and is helping people get into 
addiction treatment. The committee also stated that Insite is not 
increasing crime and/or encouraging people to start injecting drugs. 
Sound familiar? But that is not all. The committee also added that 
the site appears to be cost-effective and is popular among the 
public, including among local police officers.

The next chapter in this story should be an interesting one. Will 
Harper and Clement continue their call for more research on Insite? 
Will they dismiss the findings of their handpicked committee and 
start over? Perhaps they will give up and let those crazy West Coast 
folks do what they want when it comes to protecting the health of 
Vancouver's most marginalized citizens. Maybe they will remain 
tight-lipped, wait for a majority, and then try to close Insite. 
Whatever their next move, it will not go unnoticed, as this 
government may already have garnered a reputation for being the most 
antiscience government in Canadian history.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom