HARM REDUCTION, HARM INCREASE

The Four Pillars approach is British Columbia's drug policy - not
Canada's, as Margaret Wente calls it in Legalization In Disguise (July
19). The National Anti-Drug Strategy unveiled by the Conservatives
last fall, in contrast to the previous strategy, makes not a single
reference to harm reduction.

As for the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, the public money it
receives is from a provincial health authority, Vancouver Coastal
Health, and its purpose is peer outreach, not advocacy.

Furthermore, contrary to Ms. Wente, 868 people have overdosed at the
safe-injection site Insite. The research in question was about the
deaths that would have otherwise happened outside Insite. It does not
contradict the fact that none of the 868 overdoses at Insite have
resulted in a fatality.

Anique Montambault

Ottawa