MAJORITY SUPPORTS SAFE-INJECTION SITES

Ipsos Reid Poll Shows 55% Of Canadians Think Centres Like Insite 'A Good Idea'

Most Canadians say it's "a good thing" heroin addicts in Vancouver
have a safe, legal place to shoot up, according to a poll conducted
this week for Canwest News Service and Global National.

An Ipsos Reid poll made public yesterday found that 55 per cent of
Canadians say the Downtown Eastside centre Insite is "a good thing"
and 54 per cent say it should remain exempt from the country's drug
laws, despite a Conservative government appeal to shut it down.

"I think this actually offers the government an opportunity to decide
whether it wants to present itself as a law-and-order government vs. a
compassionate, sensitive government," said John Wright, Ipsos Reid
senior vice-president. "It's a tricky issue for them - it's not an
overwhelming majority (of Canadian support) and it is fraught with
contradictions."

Insite has been a sore point for politicians and health experts since
it opened in 2003, and debates have flared over whether the centre is
medically legitimate or simply a safe house for criminal behaviour.
Insite provides a supervised environment and clean needles for heroin
and other illegal drug addicts.

Participants were asked whether they thought the supervised injection
centre - which health experts argue saves lives and prevents overdoses
and the spread of disease - is a "good thing," a "bad thing," or if
they weren't sure. Forty per cent said they felt Insite was "bad."
Five per cent didn't know or refused to answer.

The poll was conducted June 3 to June 5, one week after a B.C. Supreme
Court judge extended the site's exemption from drug laws and said it
could remain open indefinitely. Federal Health Minister Tony Clement
says the government will appeal the decision, saying the issue is not
a medical one and the science surrounding safe injections is mixed.

Another question participants answered was whether they thought Insite
should be expanded to other major cities across the country. Half said
"yes." Another 46 per cent said "no," and five per cent didn't know or
refused to answer.

"There are many people saying, 'I'm fine with this taking place, but
I'm not fine with it in my own backyard,'" Wright said.

Quebecers were the most likely to say safe injection is "good," with
66 per cent of the province agreeing, followed by Alberta (58 per
cent), Atlantic Canada (55 per cent), British Columbia (54 per cent),
Ontario (49 per cent) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (45 per cent).

Quebecers were also the most likely to agree to allowing Vancouver's
safe-injection site to remain open and were most supportive of having
sites opened in other cities.

The poll also found a split between rural and urban populations. Those
in urban settings (57 per cent) have a higher tendency than those in
rural settings (50 per cent) to agree that Insite is a "good thing."

"Urban dwellers are more likely to accept this, as probably part of a
visible circumstance," Wright said. "(Drug use) is less in evidence in
some communities, so they treat it as a law-and-order issue rather
than a compassion-and-health issue."

The poll, which surveyed 1,000 adults by telephone, is considered
accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.