LIBERAL NOMINEE WANTS ADDICTS SENT TO ISLAND

The B.C. Liberal party candidate in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, where
Vancouver's supervised injection site is located, wants drug addicts
taken away to an "island".

There, according to Stephen Chong, addicts could get training so they
could later get jobs. "After they have finished their term, they can
come out and they have their own skill," Chong told the Georgia
Straight by phone. "That's what I want."

The 67-year-old retired businessman and former TransLink bus driver,
who was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate on July 3, said that
continuing to allow addicts to inject drugs "will kill them in the long run".

But Chong said that "if you cannot get a place for them [addicts]",
he prefers to see injection sites in each riding, not just in
Chinatown. That way, "they have a choice" where to go, he said.

Still, he considers moving Insite away from Chinatown a "good" idea,
a measure that he deemed "possible". He said, "I prefer it further
out in the city."

Chong also claimed that all Chinese people prefer a "strong way" of
dealing with drug addiction.

It's not the first time Chong has commented on Insite, and this has
caught the attention of Jenny Kwan, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

In a news report that appeared in the July 7 edition of the
Chinese-language newspaper Sing Tao Daily-an English version was
provided to the Straight by Kwan's office-Chong, who is referred to
in the translation as Cheung Fo-wan, is described as being opposed to Insite.

"He said, in order to thoroughly changed addicts, addicts should be
put in a remote place, so that they could learn life skill, so that
they could stand up by themselves and stay away from drug," the
translated news report read.

The story prompted Kwan to call on Premier Gordon Campbell, Health
Minister George Abbott, and Attorney General Wally Oppal to reaffirm
the provincial government's support for Insite.

"Insite is a vitally important health care intervention which does
not need to be politicized by someone spreading misinformation in an
attempt to garner personal political gain," Kwan stated in a letter
to the three Liberal politicians dated July 8.

Kwan also suggested that they should ask Chong to "retract his
misinformed statements".

"He's [Chong is] either very ill-informed, or he's a demagogue," Kwan
told the Straight. She called his statements "very disappointing and
dismaying".

Campbell's office didn't comment by deadline.

On May 27, in a major victory for advocates of Insite, B.C. Supreme
Court Justice Ian Pitfield ruled that two sections of Canada's drug
laws violate the constitutional rights of addicts using the facility.

Pitfield's ruling allows the facility to remain open for a year
without an exemption from the federal government. The exemption that
was previously granted to Insite expired on June 30.

Kwan introduced a member's bill in the legislature during the last
session to have Insite designated a provincial health facility
retroactive to 2003.

Called the Supervised Injection Facility Designation Act, 2008,
Kwan's bill argued that the province has exclusive constitutional
jurisdiction over health.