OTTAWA REFUTED SAFETY OF DRUG SITE

'Myths' Of Project's Benefits Shot Down

The top policy adviser to federal Health Minister Tony Clement
ordered officials to debunk five "myths" about Vancouver's Safe
Injection Site, just before Clement announced his refusal last year
to extend the site's permit.

The facility, called Insite, opened in 2003 as a safe place for drug
addicts to shoot up.

The Debunking the Myths document was delivered to Jo Kennelly,
Clement's senior policy adviser, only days after other Health Canada
internal briefing notes and media analysis described the facility's
progress and public support in positive terms.

The document obtained by the Vancouver Sun declared there were five
widely held but false public views: that safe injection sites are
"commonly used" in other countries; they operate "all across Canada;"
they are legal; they present "a complete solution" to drug use harms;
and that the SIS site "has the complete support of the community."

Each of the so-called myths -- there is no indication which
individuals or groups were espousing these views -- are then all shot down.

The document says SIS represents "one possible approach" to drug use
harms, notes the facility would be illegal without an exemption, says
there is only one in Canada, and stresses that "only" seven other
countries allow them: Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain,
Norway, Luxembourg, and Australia.

Clement, raising questions about research on safe injection sites,
announced Sept. 1 that he was rejecting the Vancouver Health
Authority's request for a 3 1/2-year extension on the permit that was
first granted in 2003. He deferred the government's decision until
the end of this year.

Clement was much more blunt in a letter, also obtained by the Sun,
that was addressed to Vancouver Coastal Health Authority president
Ida Goodreau.

Clement said the purported positive benefits were "questionable" and
said Insite's alleged impact in reducing overdose deaths is
"difficult to determine."

Clement spokesman Erik Waddell said Friday that the myth-busting
document was developed in reaction to the assertions of Vancouver activists.

"The five statements in that document are representative of
statements made to our office by various community groups in
Vancouver," said Waddell, who didn't identify the groups. "The
responses to the statements in the document were written by Health
Canada officials when our office asked them to do a fact check of the
statements."

A briefing note, circulating within Health Canada by e-mail on Sept.
1, 2006, listed 23 B.C. stakeholders supporting SIS. No opponents
were identified.