Pubdate: Tue, 03 Jun 2008
Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/4VLGnvUl
Website: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2616
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

ADDICTS HAVE RIGHT TO SAFE, LEGAL  INJECTION SITES

Ottawa is wrong to appeal a British Columbia Supreme  Court ruling
that extended a government-funded  safe-injection site for junkies.
Instead, it should  have done its duty and resolved the case once and
for  all.

Sidestepping the thorny issue of federal-provincial  jurisdiction, the
court was right to deny Ottawa its  request to shut down the Insite
program, was right to  support extending the pilot project's mandate
and was  right in saying that the long-term issue must be  resolved
with laws, not by the courts.

Health Minister Tony Clement voiced reasonable  objections, saying
that Ottawa should not be in the  business of injecting junkies with
heroin, sending out  wrong signals to kids. There is also the
sensitive  issue of our international commitments to combat drugs.
But these questions have been amply answered by  research, notably
that of Thomas Kerr of the B. C.  Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
In fairly exhaustive  surveys, he has found that providing a
relatively safe  environment for longtime hard-drug users has neither
increased the incidence of drug use nor promoted the  use of
ever-harder drugs.

There is no contradiction or hypocrisy between helping  junkies and
combatting either the trade in illegal  drugs or their use. No one can
reasonably say that drug  trafficking will disappear completely soon.
That being  the case, those who get hooked need treatment, and
Vancouver's pilot program has, by all accounts, done an  excellent job
of containing the spread of communicable  diseases associated with
injections from dirty or  shared needles, principally AIDS/HIV and
Hepatitis C.

The court argued that denying care to addicts violates  their basic
right to life and security. That's  sensible. Hardcore addicts have no
less right to the  best health care than anyone else. Instead of
fighting  it obstinately every step of the way, Ottawa should  amend
its laws -and attitude -to enshrine that  principle.
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath