Pubdate: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Tobin Dalrymple, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites) CANADIANS GIVE INSITE THUMBS-UP Over 50 Per Cent Polled Say Heroin Injection Centre Should Stay Open A majority of Canadians say it's "a good thing" heroin addicts in Vancouver have a supervised, legal place to shoot up, according to results from a poll conducted this week for Canwest News Service and Global National. An Ipsos Reid poll released Friday suggests 55 per cent of Canadians feel the East Hastings centre Insite is "a good thing" and 54 per cent thought it should remain exempt from the country's drug laws, despite a Conservative government appeal to shut it down. "I think this actually offers the government an opportunity to decide whether it wants to present itself as a law-and-order government, versus a compassionate, sensitive government," said John Wright, Ipsos Reid senior vice-president. "It's a tricky issue for them, it's not an overwhelming majority (of Canadian support) and it is fraught with contradictions." Insite has been a sore point for politicians and health experts since it opened in 2003, and debates have flared over whether the centre is medically legitimate or simply a safe house for criminal behaviour. Insite provides a supervised environment and clean needles for heroin and other illegal drug addicts. Participants were asked whether they thought the supervised injection centre, which health experts argue saves lives and prevents overdoses and the spread of disease, is a "good thing," a "bad thing," or if they weren't sure. Forty per cent said they felt Insite was "bad." Five per cent didn't know or refused to answer. The poll was conducted June 3-5, one week after a B.C. Supreme Court judge extended the site's exemption from drug laws and said it could remain open indefinitely. Health Minister Tony Clement says the government will appeal the decision, saying the issue is not a medical one and the science supporting safe injections is mixed. Another question participants answered was whether they thought Insite should be expanded to other major cities across the country. Half (50 per cent) said "yes." Another 46 per cent said "no" and five per cent didn't know or refused to answer. "There are many people saying 'I'm fine with this taking place, but I'm not fine with it in my own backyard,'" said Wright. Quebecers were the most likely to say safe injection is "good," with 66 per cent of the province agreeing, followed by Alberta (58 per cent), Atlantic Canada (55 per cent), British Columbia (54 per cent), Ontario (49 per cent) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (45 per cent). The poll also found a split between rural and urban populations. Those in urban settings (57 per cent) have a higher tendency than those in rural settings (50 per cent) to agree Insite is a "good thing." "Urban dwellers are more likely to accept this, as probably part of a visible circumstance," Wright said. "(Drug use) is less in evidence in some communities, so they treat it as a law-and-order issue rather than a compassion-and-health issue." The poll, which surveyed 1,000 adults by telephone, is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The safe-injection issue also surfaced in other parts of the country this week when Quebec Health Minister Phillippe Couillard said Wednesday his government is considering opening similar sites in Quebec. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake