TWO VIEWS ON VANCOUVER SAFE INJECTION SITE STORY

Your article featured a quotation from Mark Townsend that is
factually inaccurate. Mr. Townsend incorrectly accuses me having not
supported Insite while serving as federal minister of health.

While I appreciate Mr. Townsend's underlying support for my position,
the fact is that as federal minister of health from July 2004 to
February 2006, I advocated for the maintenance and funding of the
Insite facility in Vancouver. As an example, in an interview with The
Vancouver Courier on Dec. 7, 2005, I was quoted as saying, "We need to
have a comprehensive approach to crime, to the root causes of crime
and then to make sure we do restorative justice, rehabilitate people,
provide treatment to those that are addicted, provide safe injections
sites to those that need them and we actually deal with, in a very
tough fashion, with serious violent offenders."

Although in 1998, as attorney general of British Columbia, I publicly
expressed concerns about safe injections sites at a time when less
research existed on the topic, I quickly came to understand the vital
role such facilities could play in harm reduction by the time I was
premier of the province in 2000.

My support for Insite and for the creation of additional safe
injections sites has been consistent since the year 2000, and I firmly
upheld that position as federal minister of health.

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh,

Vancouver South, B.C.