DRAWING THE LINE

The federal government is determined to shut down Vancouver's
supervised drug injection site, the only sanctioned one in North America.

A B.C. Supreme Court decision earlier this year allowed Insite to remain open.

But Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement said at an AIDS conference
in Mexico this past week that a line needs to be drawn as to which
public health measures are acceptable.

He draws the line at needle exchanges; providing a staffed facility
for intravenous drugs is going too far.

Needle exchanges may help prevent the spread of diseases, but they
don't help addicts get clean.

Insite offers counselling and tries to steer addicts towards detox.
It also assists them in case of overdose. It's had some success at
both - not one overdose death since it opened in September 2003.

Insite offer intravenous drug users a cleaner, safer place to shoot
up. Critics, like the health minister, call that enabling.

An advisory committee found that Insite saves, on average, one life a
year. Clement said the federal government can do better.

How? When?

Insite was never meant to be the cure-all for addiction, disease and
poverty on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, but one of four pillars:
prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement.

Canada needs to increase detox beds and intakes, as well as
transitional and supportive housing units for addicts coming out of
treatment. Otherwise they end up back on the street, shooting up,
sharing needles and spreading disease.

The homeless problem is our country's biggest embarrassment, a
reflection of our unwillingness to take care of those who need help the most.

Insite helps those people, bringing them in the door, and saves lives.

That is the bottom line.