Pubdate: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: David Hogben, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?216 (CN Police) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites) RCMP ROLE IN INJECTION SITE STUDIES DRAWS FIRE The Pivot Legal Society has asked federal auditor general Sheila Fraser to examine whether the RCMP exceeded its law-enforcement mandate by commissioning studies into Vancouver's supervised injection site. Pivot lawyer and spokesman Doug King yesterday revealed RCMP e-mails indicating the national police force commissioned reports researching Insite. "The RCMP Act gave the RCMP a mandate to act as peace officers for the citizens of Canada. Using public funds entrusted to them to fund a cynical critique of health-based research clearly does not fall within this mandate," King said. RCMP E Division spokeswoman Annie Linteau confirmed the RCMP paid for the four studies. "We do research on a regular basis on a variety of topics and issues. So this is no different," she said. One of the reports paid for by the RCMP was written by anti-harm reduction activist Colin Mangham. Federal Health Minister Tony Clement referred to Mangham's report when he argued academic research into supervised injection sites was deeply divided. Mangham's report found Insite responsible for "little or no reduction in transmission of blood-borne diseases or public disorder, no impact on overdose deaths in Vancouver." One e-mail, written by then-RCMP Const. Chuck Doucette, states: "Dr. Mangham's report has now been published. This e-mail contains a link to the web page for the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice and to his report. As per our request, the report has no reference to the RCMP." Linteau confirmed the RCMP paid $10,000 for that report and $5,000 for another. She could not say how much the RCMP paid for the other two reports. Doucette left the RCMP in July 2007 and now is the vice-president of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, which opposes Insite and harm reduction as a primary method to limit the damage of illegal drug use. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin