Pubdate: Wed, 25 Mar 2015
Source: Gateway, The (U of Alberta, CN AB Edu)
Copyright: 2015 Gateway Student Journalism Society
Contact:  http://www.thegatewayonline.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3149
Author: Andrew Jeffrey
Page: 9

SAFE INJECTION CLINICS DON'T BRING DISRESPECT TO COMMUNITIES

This week, the Harper government showed Canadians they're serious
about "respecting communities," but not quite as serious about
respecting the health of every Canadian living in those
neighbourhoods.

Earlier this week, the House of Commons passed Bill C-2, known as the
Respect for Communities Act, a piece of legislation that will add more
red tape and bureaucratic hurdles to the implementation of new
supervised injection clinics in Canada. Putting these restrictions in
place, and the Conservative Party's continued opposition to these
clinics, flies in the face of numerous studies and research supporting
its existence.

Unfortunately, this bill is just another example of the Harper
Government ignoring scientific research and prioritizing its
traditional values and ideology over the health and well-being of Canadians.

InSite, a safe injection site already operating in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, has been an easy target for its
critics. After all, a safe injection clinic provides a space for drug
use and clean needles, but also for addiction treatment, mental health
counselling and immediate first aid, if necessary. Despite the
treatment available, its use is prime fodder to be twisted into an
unfair narrative of state-sponsored drug enabling.

But these clinics don't supply drug users with their fix. Rather, it
gives them a safe place where overdoses and addiction can be treated
right away. The availability of these clinics should expand across the
country as a positive harm reduction tool for those in need. Instead,
Bill C-2 puts that expansion in jeopardy.

This comes after the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled in 2011
to grant InSite an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act to allow drug possession on its premises, would be a violation of
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So it's unlikely InSite itself
will shut down anytime soon. But new services will need to go through
the added steps of providing 27 pieces of information to the federal
Minister of Health, including letters from provincial cabinet
ministers and criminal background checks for everyone working at a
potential clinic.

It's still possible for new safe injection clinics to set up, but it's
now a more cumbersome and lengthy task to do so. For Canadians who
could use the service to prevent an overdose from happening when
they're alone and far from any medical treatment, prolonging their
prevention from using one of these sites could mean the difference
between life and death.

The Harper Government is supporting this bill to continue to show
Canadians it always takes a tough-on-crime stance and a strict
anti-drug policy, even when that stance is also against a potentially
vital health service for some citizens. The Conservative Party is
looking at this issue from a public safety perspective, imagining that
the implementation of this clinic will enable or normalize drug use in
a community. But conservative politicians should place greater
emphasis on the health benefits of these clinics. If a space like
InSite needs to be implemented, it's likely the neighbourhoods they're
situated in are already rife with drug use, just like Vancouver's DTES.

Bill C-2 is just another unfortunate example of the Harper Government
ignoring research already conducted on an issue that contradicts its
conservative values. InSite has successfully saved lives, reduced
needle-sharing and even, ironically, made the DTES look a bit more
respectful with less needles littering the ground. Scientific evidence
supports the use of InSite and safe injection clinics like it, and so
does the Supreme Court and the World Health Organization. But none of
this is seemingly enough to persuade the Conservative Party from their
hard stance against any even marginal consent to allow drug use.

What point is there even for any sort of scientific or academic
research to take place if it's not going to be used to improve the way
society is governed and the way we live? By ignoring the evidence in
favour of InSite, the Conservative government tells Canadians that
ideology trumps science. Until a damning, inarguable study of the ill
effects of InSite on a community is published, there's no reason to
ignore its benefits and prevent its expansion.

It's commendable and expected to have an anti-drug, tough-on-crime
government in some cases. But that should never extend to a government
that's tough-on-science and anti-drug user. Many Canadian citizens are
grappling with drug addictions everyday, and placing these barriers
between them and care will do nothing to help them or improve
communities.
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