Pubdate: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Josh Wingrove Referenced: The evidence http://www.pivotlegal.org/pdfs/RCMPsecretlyfundedreserch-documents.pdf Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Pivot+Legal+Society RCMP LAUNCH INTERNAL REVIEW INTO INSITE REPORT The RCMP have begun an internal review into allegations it commissioned academic critiques of a controversial Vancouver drug-injection site, a letter released publicly said yesterday, but the researcher to whom the note is addressed says it's nothing more than "damage control." Documents released last week by Vancouver's Pivot Legal Society allege that the Mounties paid for research on Insite, a downtown supervised safe-injection clinic, in an effort to contest studies that typically found that the facility had a beneficial effect. Some of the positive findings were from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, which, in an e-mail that Pivot Legal Society said was written by an RCMP officer, was referred to as the "centre for excrement." RCMP Pacific region Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass said in an interview yesterday that he didn't know about the commissioned research until Pivot's allegations were published in the media last week. In a letter to Julio Montaner, a prominent AIDS researcher who leads the Centre for Excellence and supports Insite, Deputy Commissioner Bass said the allegations "are taken seriously and are under [internal RCMP] review." He also said in an interview that the "excrement" comment was incorrectly attributed to an RCMP officer, but wouldn't provide the e-mails to support the claim, or say who sent them. "However, regardless of their origin, the Force categorically condemns the sentiments and derogatory tone found within these comments," his letter read. But Dr. Montaner is not satisfied. "This letter is absolutely unacceptable," Dr. Montaner said. "They were caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and they're basically trying to say: 'How can we get away while blaming someone else?' " The RCMP letter, in which Deputy Commissioner Bass offers to meet with Dr. Montaner, was posted online as a news release at the same time it was sent to Dr. Montaner, who wasn't aware of it until contacted by The Globe and Mail. Dr. Montaner said scheduling conflicts could now prevent him from meeting with Deputy Commissioner Bass until November. "It seems to be their eagerness to get in touch with me is in contrast with their process of engaging themselves in a public process of damage control," Dr. Montaner said. Deputy Commissioner Bass's letter didn't mention a study the Mounties commissioned by Colin Mangham, who was also the director of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, and whose report Dr. Montaner called an "opinion piece." If the RCMP review reveals that some officers sought to commission biased research, it would "be a matter of significant concern," Deputy Commissioner Bass said, adding that amid "polarized" opinion, he'd now like more research before passing final judgment on Insite. "I think the jury's still out on Insite. I certainly welcome the ongoing research. Credible research," he said. Pivot lawyer Doug King said it was a partial victory that the RCMP said they'd commissioned research. The RCMP offered to meet with Pivot, but the society would rather support an independent review and refused the invitation, Mr. King said. "If they're investigating it themselves, chances are they're going to come to the conclusion that they acted appropriately," Mr. King said. "Really, the point of [releasing the documents last week] was to get the Auditor-General involved." On Tuesday, federal Auditor-General Sheila Fraser told Mr. King her office is considering stepping in, but cautioned that it is "not committing to audit the issue you have raised." Allan Castle, a former political scientist who is now the B.C. RCMP's criminal analysis researcher, said the key to a long-term solution on the future of Insite is collaboration among researchers, including Dr. Montaner, to debate the facility's health impact in relation to the social-justice implications of a supervised injection centre for illegal drugs. "What's the relationship between health matters, drug injection, and criminality? These things are really difficult to unpack," he said. "You can't actually answer those questions unless you get the health researchers and the criminal-justice researchers in the same room." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake