HARM-REDUCTION FANS SHOULD HEED HARPER'S WARNING

An apparently unbridgeable divide separates the two leading schools
of thought on how to deal with rampant drug addiction in B.C.

On the one side are those -- and they include medical experts --
whose priority is to mitigate the damage addicts do to themselves and others.

On the other side are those, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
who cannot reconcile their primary aim of preventing addiction with
the notion of government providing addicts with a "safe" place to
inject illegal drugs.

Proponents of "harm reduction" argue that government-sponsored
injection sites, such as the one in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside,
help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, reduce overdose deaths and help
addicts to quit.

These are admirable objectives, advocated in the main by those with
genuine humanitarian instincts. The trouble is many of these same
people adamantly oppose policies of law-enforcement to contain drug abuse.

And that is where their views part company with Canadians who demand
a tougher approach, having watched with dismay the expansion of the
criminal drug trade and the failure of harm-reduction policies to curb it.

It was on behalf of such people that the prime minister spoke at CFB
Esquimalt this week. Asked about a pending application by the City of
Victoria to set up three safe-injection sites, Harper was unusually
blunt: "We have no plans at the moment to expand them."

The PM would seem to be indicating that Health Canada may decline to
renew the permit this December for Vancouver's Insite facility,
currently the only supervised injection site in Canada.

And we think it's time the harm-reduction folks recognized their
efforts are putting off Canadians who are alarmed at policies that
appear to "reward" addicts by catering to their addiction.

Indeed, many British Columbians can only shake their heads at the
recent harm-reduction scheme proposed by Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan
- -- that of providing addicts with synthetic substitutes for their
illegal drugs in pill form.

They believe, as we do, that the only real way to get addicts back to
living satisfying and productive lives is to get them to end their addiction.

That is why we endorse the views of the Greater Victoria Chamber of
Commerce, as expressed this week by CEO Bruce Carter. Our health-care
dollars, Carter said, should be spent on addiction treatment and drug
enforcement -- not to prop up the illegal activities of drug users and dealers.

What do you think? Leave a brief comment, name and town at:
604-605-2029, fax: 604-605-2099 or e-mail: provletters@png.canwest.com