Pubdate: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 Source: Windsor Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 The Windsor Star Contact: http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501 Author: Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun Note: Barbara Yaffe is a Vancouver Sun columnist. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/insite (InSite) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) ATTACKS ON INSITE BECOMING TIRESOME Health Minister Tony Clement's diatribes against Vancouver's safe injection site are becoming tiresome and embarrassing. Earlier this week the minister launched yet another attack on the Insite clinic in downtown Vancouver at a World Health Organization gathering in Mexico City. "Allowing and or encouraging people to inject heroin into their veins is not harm reduction," said Clement. "It is a form of harm addition." Here are a few facts for the minister to consider: * Between June of 2007 and June of 2008, 222 users overdosed at the East Hastings clinic and received immediate intervention. Some of those users might otherwise have died in a back alley. * During the same period 3,862 addicts received first aid and medical care from Insite nursing staff and 2,269 were referred to social agencies. It's possible some of those addicts entered rehab and kicked their habit. Moreover, the WHO strongly endorses harm reduction clinics such as Insite. According to the organization, it's a way of ensuring drug addicts use clean needles and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The clinics don't supply drugs, merely offer safe conditions for injecting. Without the clinics, addicts would still inject. Sure, tolerating drug use is not something a society enjoys doing. That's why it's called "harm reduction," in recognition that the practice would go on regardless. What is it about safe injection sites that Clement cannot get his mind around? He understands and endorses the need for clean needles. The sites merely add a desk and chair, and healthcare oversight to the mix. What's more, Clement is proving himself a first-class hypocrite. The health minister doesn't want addicts shooting up; he wants them off drugs. But despite a year of pleas, to date the feds haven't responded to a request for $2 million in capital funding from Vancouver's Central City Foundation. The group is establishing a long-term residential drug treatment centre for young people. B.C.'s government has pledged $2.4 million annually for The Crossing at Keremeos, to begin accepting residents in January. So far the feds have contributed zip. On the safe injection front, some 49 sites now operate in Australia, Europe and Canada. More are slated to open in Quebec, where the Harperites would dare interfere. B.C.'s Supreme Court ruled recently that access to Insite constitutes a right -- to life, liberty and security of the person -- under the Charter. In late June, Ottawa announced its intention to appeal the ruling, so the case probably will be adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Conservatives have long wanted to padlock Insite and would be able to by refusing to extend Insite's exemption under Criminal Code drug laws. But the court ruling now stands in the way. In the next election, the party will face a stiff contest in B.C., as it usually does, with the NDP and Liberals in strong contention. British Columbians, particularly in urban areas tend to support the five-year-old clinic. Indeed the province and a succession of Vancouver mayors are strongly behind the clinic To win a majority government, Conservatives need to drop the ideology and appeal to a broader cross-section of the electorate. So, just as they've turned a blind eye to private medical clinics to appease right leaning supporters, they need to do the same for liberal-minded folks who agree with no less an authority than the World Health Organization on Insite. The minister surely has better things to do than whine about Insite. There's an overcrowding crisis in Canada's emergency departments, a dearth of certain medical services in specific provinces and a dire shortage of family physicians coast to coast. Barbara Yaffe is a Vancouver Sun columnist. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom