INJECTION 'MYTHS' SHOT BY MINISTRY

Vancouver Site; Document Issued Just Days Before Permit Denied

OTTAWA - The top policy advisor to Tony Clement, the Minister of
Health, 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 inject.

The "Debunking the Myths" document was delivered to Jo Kennelly, Mr.
Clement's senior policy advisor, 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 "myths" -- there is no indication which individuals or
groups were espousing these views -- are all then 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.

The document says SIS represents "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.

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

SIS's supporters have alleged that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is
ignoring research, including a new report released last week, and is
being driven by ideology as he plans to unveil a tough new National
Drug Strategy that excludes safe injection sites.

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," Mr. Waddell, who didn't identify the groups, said in an e-mail.

"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."

He said the document "went no further" after being delivered to Mr.
Clement's office and was not distributed to Conservative MPs and senators.

Dr. Julio Montaner, clinical director of the B.C. Centre of
Excellence for HIV/AIDS, said it was "stupid" to imply that there was
unanimous support for Insite.

"You never have the complete support of everybody," he said.

"These 'myths' illustrate the poor understanding of whoever crafted
these myths.

"We have never ever said anything close to this."