SCIENCE VS. POLITICS

Heroin and cocaine addicts are ill and entitled to potentially
life-saving medical supervision when they inject illegal drugs, a
British Columbia Supreme Court judge decided last week in ruling that
a controversial Vancouver safe injection site can remain open. Judge
Ian Pitfield ruled that the country's Controlled Drug and Substance
Act conflicts with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and also
provincial jurisdiction over health care.

The decision appeared to give a reprieve to Insite, North America's
only safe injection clinic (although Toronto is now considering a
similar clinic). Insite's exemption from the federal drug law was due
to expire June 30.

Pitfield gave the federal government a year to fix the law so that it
no longer conflicts with the principle of medical treatment.

But the federal government is not about to give up its fight to rid
the country of the clinic. Health Minister Tony Clement announced
that the government will appeal the ruling. While health experts -
including a panel he appointed - have concluded that Insite saves
lives, Clement begs to differ. "In my opinion, supervised injection
is not medicine," he says. "It does not heal the person addicted to drugs."

The safe injection clinic was first opened in September 2003 as a
three-year pilot project to reduce the spread of disease and drug
overdoses by giving addicts clean needles and medical supervision.
Since 2006, it has existed on temporary extensions while the
government debated what to do.

Harm-reduction programs like Insite accept that many addicts are
unready, unwilling or unable to stop their substance abuse and seek
alternative strategies. Insite has the support of Vancouver's mayor,
the police and the provincial government. But it appears the federal
government prefers to see Insite as a political football to be kicked
out of bounds, to cheers from the core Conservative constituency.