Pubdate: Tue, 06 May 2008
Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Abbotsford Times
Contact:  http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009
Author: Keith Baldrey
Note: Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

IDEOLOGICAL PREJUDICES NOT SMART

The clock is ticking on the future of one of Canada's most important 
and unique attempts to deal with drug addiction. Perhaps that's a good thing.

It may very well be good that the federal government is sending 
signals it will soon no longer support Vancouver's supervised 
injection facility [Insite]. Getting Ottawa out of the picture may 
actually create some certainty and stability for the controversial 
facility in Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside.

That's because Health Minister George Abbott has said the province 
supports the facility remaining open, which suggests the B.C. 
government is willing to operate it should the feds decide to bail.

Insite, which opened its doors in 2003, has been allowed to exist 
because the federal government granted it an exemption from the 
country's narcotic laws [illegal drugs, notably heroin, are allowed 
to be on the premises].

But the exemption expires on June 30. A host of supporters of Insite 
have pooled efforts to keep the facility open - including a court 
challenge - and goodness knows they're pushing a big rock up a steep 
hill when it comes to dealing with the feds.

It's clear the whole philosophical and medical underpinning of Insite 
- - which recognizes that drug addiction is primarily a health issue, 
not a criminal one - makes the Harper government very uneasy. I've 
written before about the completely ineffective war on drugs that 
stresses enforcement and prohibition.

Despite that ongoing failure, ideological conservatives and 
right-wingers still cling to the notion that simply catching drug 
addicts and throwing them in jail solves the problem.

Their approach is, of course, wrong and there is very little positive 
evidence to back up their assertions that they're on the right track. 
Still, the Harper gang has left enough clues that they prefer to keep 
the ideological blinkers firmly in place.

The fact that Insite's effectiveness has been cited in 20 articles in 
leading peer-review publications such as Lancet and the New England 
Journal of Medicine seems to matter little.

The fact that studies by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and 
noted criminologist Neil Boyd from Simon Fraser University [released 
just this week] show numerous benefits arising from Insite's 
existence [fewer drug overdoses, reduced transmission of HIV/Hep C 
viruses, more public order in the area, and a 40 per cent treatment 
rate for drug users] seem to matter little. The fact that B.C. 
provincial health officer Perry Kendall, one of the world's most 
credible authorities on harm reduction, is a passionate advocate of 
Insite, seems to matter little. Instead, opponents of Insite are 
reduced to relying on a couple of Vancouver police officers who don't 
like the fact the facility exists [although more than a 1,000 ex-U.S. 
drug police officers think the whole approach to fighting drugs has 
been a dismal failure, and support some kind of end to prohibition].

And opponents are left quoting from a single, dubious study that 
suggests the experiment has been a failure. But when one looks 
further, it turns out the study's author is the research director of 
the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, a prohibition group led by 
former Conservative MP Randy White.

For the federal government to give greater weight to such a flawed, 
questionable report [done, by the way, for a non-scientific anti-drug 
organization] over such esteemed and credible sources as the Lancet, 
the New England Journal of Medicine and Dr. Kendall would be a travesty.

But then again, maybe that would be a good thing. If we can get rid 
of ideological, moralistic attitudes shaping our approach to dealing 
with drug addiction then maybe we can make some progress on that 
bleak landscape.

So a word to Ottawa: hand this facility over to the B.C. government. 
Let it continue its operations and good work.

Keep your ideological prejudices to yourselves. This province, and 
particularly the people who literally need Insite to stay alive, 
would be all the better for it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom