OFFICIALS DEBUNKED INJECTION SITE 'MYTHS' FOR CLEMENT, DOCUMENT REVEALS

The top policy adviser to Health Minister Tony Clement ordered
federal officials to debunk five "myths"about Vancouver's Safe
Injection Site, just before Mr. 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, Mr.
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 site "has the complete support of the community."

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

"While there is support for the Vancouver supervised injection site,
not everyone is in agreement that it is the most effective way to
address the harms associated with injection drug use in the city's
Downtown Eastside," the document states, without identifying any of
the critics.

The document says safe injection sites represent "one possible
approach" to drug-use harms, notes that 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.

Mr. 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.

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

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

Health Canada's own internal documents from last August indicated
that area support for Insight was significant.

"Media coverage throughout August has been weighted heavily in
support of Vancouver's supervised injection site, featuring a broad
range of politicians, health experts, and social activists urging the
federal government to continue operating the facility when its
three-year study period concludes," Lifeline Communications Group
Inc. told Health Canada.