Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2008
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Mike Howell

HEALTH MINISTER CITES VPD COP IN INSITE ATTACK

Health Minister's Speech Includes Indictment Of Vancouver Drug Policy

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement is using comments from a senior 
Vancouver police officer to build his case against the city's 
supervised injection site.

In a May 29 speech to Parliament's health committee, Clement 
extensively quoted Insp. John McKay about the "slippery slope" of 
allowing drug users to legally inject drugs at Insite.

"He's not out to win any popularity contests--he speaks the plain 
truth," said Clement in the written version of the speech, obtained 
by the Courier.

McKay is an outspoken critic of the Insite injection site on East 
Hastings and has called the scientific research project "a failed 
social experiment."

McKay's position is in contrast to the views of the Vancouver Police 
Department, the city's drug policy coordinator and Mayor Sam 
Sullivan, who chairs the Vancouver Police Board.

McKay was the officer in charge of the VPD's beat enforcement team 
when Insite opened in September 2003. He is now a duty officer who is 
consulted on major crime incidents in the city.

When Insite opened, McKay said, operators of the facility handed out 
lattes and T-shirts to addicts. And, he said, the VPD agreed not to 
arrest anyone with illegal drugs within a five-block radius of the site.

The decision to adopt a "no-charge policy" created a "culture of 
entitlement" for drug users, said McKay, adding that an addict simply 
had to say they were going to Insite to avoid prosecution. "In 2006, 
the culture of entitlement was so bad that addicts were openly using 
drugs at bus stops, school grounds and business fronts," he said.

The drug activity prompted the VPD to begin arresting addicts found 
using drugs at these locations. Police warned Vancouver Coastal 
Health, which operates Insite with the PHS Community Services 
Society, before enforcement was taken.

"This was loudly supported by the public, however [Vancouver Coastal 
Health] accused the VPD of not supporting harm reduction," McKay said.

It is not known whether McKay prepared briefing notes for Clement or 
how Clement obtained McKay's write-up. The Courier left a message for 
McKay Tuesday but had not heard back from him before yesterday's deadline.

Const. Tim Fanning, a VPD media liaison officer, wasn't aware of any 
arrangement between McKay and Clement. But he pointed out that having 
a drug injection site in Vancouver has created great debate in the department.

"There's a lot of strong feelings about it within our own police 
department," Fanning said. "It's not unusual--there's people that 
certainly can disagree with what they've seen."

In his speech, Clement called Insite "a failure of public policy... 
[and] ethical judgment." More focus should be on prevention and 
treatment and not on "palliative care," he said, referring to Mayor 
Sullivan's description of Insite's purpose. "Palliative care is what 
you give someone when there is no hope," Clement said. "It is 
end-stage treatment when every other solution has failed and we just 
wait for people to die. But injection drug users are not dying. There 
is still hope for them."

Insite was supposed to close June 30, but a recent B.C. Supreme Court 
ruling will keep the facility open indefinitely. The federal 
government is appealing the ruling.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart