CONSERVATIVES' ATTACKS ON INSITE NEED TO STOP

Health Minister Tony Clement's diatribes against Vancouver's safe
injection site are becoming tiresome and embarrassing.

Earlier this week the minister launched yet another attack on the
Insite clinic in downtown Vancouver at a World Health Organization
gathering in Mexico City.

"Allowing and or encouraging people to inject heroin into their veins
is not harm reduction," said Clement. "It is a form of harm addition."

Here are a few facts for the minister to consider:

. Between June of 2007 and June of 2008, 222 users overdosed at the
East Hastings clinic and received immediate intervention. Some of
those users might otherwise have died in a back alley.

. During the same period 3,862 addicts received first aid and medical
care from Insite nursing staff and 2,269 were referred to social
agencies. It's possible some of those addicts entered rehab and
kicked their habit.

Moreover, the WHO strongly endorses harm reduction clinics such as
Insite. According to the organization, it's a way of ensuring drug
addicts use clean needles and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and
other diseases.

The clinics don't supply drugs, merely offer safe conditions for
injecting. Without the clinics, addicts would still inject.

Sure, tolerating drug use is not something a society enjoys doing.
That's why it's called "harm reduction," in recognition that the
practice would go on regardless.

What is it about safe injection sites that Clement cannot get his
mind around? He understands and endorses the need for clean needles.
The sites merely add a desk and chair, and health-care oversight to the mix.

What's more, Clement is proving himself a first-class hypocrite. The
health minister doesn't want addicts shooting up; he wants them off
drugs. But despite a year of pleas, to date the feds haven't
responded to a request for $2 million in capital funding from
Vancouver's Central City Foundation. The group is establishing a
long-term residential drug treatment centre for young people.

B.C.'s government has pledged $2.4 million annually for The Crossing
at Keremeos, to begin accepting residents in January. So far the feds
have contributed zip.

It's time for Clement to put his money where his mouth is.

On the safe injection front, some 49 sites now operate in Australia,
Europe and Canada. More are slated to open in Quebec, where the
Harperites would dare interfere.

B.C.'s Supreme Court ruled recently that access to Insite constitutes
a right -- to life, liberty and security of the person -- under the Charter.

In late June, Ottawa announced its intention to appeal the ruling, so
the case probably will be adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Conservatives have long wanted to padlock Insite and would be
able to by refusing to extend Insite's exemption under Criminal Code
drug laws. But the court ruling now stands in the way.

Ministerial jaw flapping about the evils of safe-injection sites at
this stage are thereby pointless, and politically unproductive for
Conservatives.

In the next election, the party will face a stiff contest in B.C., as
it usually does, with the NDP and Liberals in strong contention.

British Columbians, particularly in urban areas -- traditionally a
weak spot for Conservatives -- tend to support the five-year-old
clinic. Indeed the province and a succession of Vancouver mayors are
strongly behind the clinic. And Victoria's mayor has expressed
interest in a safe-injection site.

Elsewhere in Canada, it's doubtful voters would cast a ballot based
on a clinic for addicts in Vancouver.

In fact, opposing Insite does little for the Harperites beyond
playing to their political base, likely to vote for them anyway.

To win a majority government, Conservatives need to drop the ideology
and appeal to a broader cross-section of the electorate.

So, just as they've turned a blind eye to private medical clinics to
appease right leaning supporters, they need to do the same for
liberal-minded folks who agree with no less an authority than the
World Health Organization on Insite.

The minister surely has better things to do than whine about Insite.
There's an overcrowding crisis in Canada's emergency departments, a
dearth of certain medical services in specific provinces and a dire
shortage of family physicians coast to coast.