MAYOR WELCOMES INSITE MOVE

Sullivan Pleased Injection Site Now a Priority

B.C. politicians say Prime Minister Stephen Harper is adopting a
U.S.-style approach to drugs in a strategy he unveiled in Winnipeg yesterday.

Harper promised mandatory minimum jail sentences for dealers and
compassion for users in a long-awaited $64-million anti-drug strategy.

"Currently there are no minimum prison sentences for producing and
trafficking dangerous drugs like methamphetamines and cocaine," said
the prime minister.

"But these are serious crimes; those who commit them should do serious time."

While Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan praised the government's move to
keep the safe-injection site open for another six months, MP Libby
Davies, the NDP deputy leader, said Harper is simply aping U.S.
measures that haven't worked.

"I think the government is headed in completely the wrong direction,"
said Davies. "They are eliminating harm-reduction, something that has
been very successful, and are adopting a U.S.-style war on drugs
focusing on enforcement. It didn't work in the U.S., and it won't work here."

Former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh, now a Liberal MP, also said the
plan is a mirror of failing U.S. strategies.

"These plans are essentially clones of the U.S. war on drugs," said
Dosanjh. "I was pleased to see more treatment options, but this is
more about ideology and politics than drug prevention or crime prevention.

"If you want mandatory sentences, get ready to build more jails. In
the U.S., you have 26 states with the death penalty, and those 26
states have the highest crime rates."

Harper, in what many see as a pre-election speech, said the
government's response will be two-pronged, focusing on drug addicts
on one hand and on drug producers and dealers on the other.

"Drugs are dangerous and destructive. If drugs do get hold of you,
there will be help to get you off them," he said. "But if you sell or
produce drugs, you will pay with prison time."

Harper's move to keep the Insite supervised-injection site open for
at least six months was endorsed by Premier Gordon Campbell and
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan.

"Initially there was a lot of public resistance, but over time we've
seen a growing consensus, from the premier down to the local shop
owners," said Sullivan. "I'm pleased that this has become a priority."