Pubdate: Thu, 12 Apr 2012
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Anthony Furey
Referenced: Report of the Toronto and Ottawa Supervised Consumption 
Assessment Study, 2012: 
http://www.toscastudy.ca/TOSCA_Report_files/TOSCA%20report-web.pdf

ARGUMENT NEEDS INJECTION OF SANITY

It's about time someone drafted an anti-activist's handbook. There 
needs to be a way for regular people to wade through the lingo of the 
harm reduction lobby and see beyond the spin.

Anyone who is just delving into the drug injection site debate for 
the first time this week would be forgiven for taking the side of 
harm-reduction activists. A seemingly unbiased study called TOSCA, 
released by researchers from St. Michael's Hospital and University of 
Toronto, calls for the creation of injection sites in Ottawa and Toronto.

The casual reader might take their side because most studies and 
papers advocating harm reduction are done by doctors, researchers, 
scientists and the like. And of course, to the uninitiated, these 
people appear completely unbiased. They are the authority in our 
society and routinely given the benefit of the doubt.

But the TOSCA researchers are far from unbiased, and their report 
isn't a true study. It's just that they - and other harm-reduction 
activists - have done a solid job over the years of framing the 
debate in their language.

To be a casual observer of the harm-reduction racket is to be one of 
the people chained to the floor of Plato's cave. You see shadows 
dancing around and think they tell the full story. But it's only when 
you break out of the chains and walk up close that you understand 
that behind the shadows lies a greater truth. So let's take a peek 
behind the curtain.

One of the TOSCA study's lead authors is Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, hardly an 
unbiased researcher. "He is committed to the concepts of social and 
economic justice" as explained in his bio on the Medical Reform Group 
website. Social and economic justice are insider buzz words to tip 
your hat to a certain segment of society that you have already made 
up your mind on a manifold of issues. You're part of the 'in crowd'.

The other primary co-author, Dr. Carole Strike, is equally in on the 
game. In 2002, she researched 'methadone programs in non-traditional 
settings' (Day cares? Hockey rinks? But I jest ...). In 2005, she 
worked on Best Practices for Needles Exchanges in Ontario. So she's 
already committed to needle exchanges, she just wants to decide which 
ones are best.

There's more like this out there on both of them. This isn't to 
suggest these doctors flunked their finals and shouldn't be heard. 
It's just that you've got to realize 'truth,' sadly, is a fluid 
concept, and you need to pay attention to what side a supposed expert 
is on. This goes for reports on fighter jets just as much injection sites.

There is one buzz phrase in particular you need to be wary of. 
'Evidence-based decision making' has been gaining traction recently. 
At face value, it means using facts and stats to determine policy, 
rather than political philosophies. In reality, it's used as a 
bullying device to silence anyone who disagrees with the 'in crowd'.

Rather than argue anyone with doubts, they just say those people are 
against 'evidence.' And of course, anyone against 'evidence' must be 
out to lunch.

Not so ironically, the TOSCA study has zero evidence in it. It's 
actually a compilation of second-hand opinion studies (self-reporting 
by drug addicts isn't exactly reliable).

But then it would be naive to think 'evidence-based' proponents would 
ever actually read the appendix of a study to find where said 
evidence actually comes from.

It's like the brilliant branding of the term 'social justice' to 
cover anything people of a certain ilk want to see funded. Because of 
course once something is filed under the category of 'justice', to 
oppose funding or allowing it is to side with 'injustice'.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom