SAFE INJECTION SITE'S INTERNATIONAL CONSEQUENCES WORRY FEDS

OTTAWA -- The federal government, when it contemplated the closure of
Vancouver's supervised injection site for drug addicts, concluded
that the risk of offending the international community by keeping
Insite open had more serious consequences than closing the facility
over the objections of the B.C. government, according to internal
documents obtained Friday by The Vancouver Sun.

One Health Canada document, which describes and evaluates the risks
associated with both options, also warned that refusal to extend
Insite's licence would simply result in the opening of an illegal
facility doing the same thing.

With considerable risks inherent with either choice, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper's government asked to extend the permit by up to five
years -- found a middle ground last August by extending the
facility's permit only until the end of this year.

The government also refused to renew the $1.5 million in research
funding provided by the former Liberal government when it opened for
a three-year trial in 2003.

The Harper government has criticized "harm reduction" measures such
as the Insite program, which focuses on reducing the risk of
overdoses and HIV infection rates among hard-core addicts.

The facility provides clean needles, a safe place to shoot up, a
referral service for addicts seeking treatment, and staff available
in the event of an overdose.

The federal budget this week committed $64 million over two-years to
fund a renewed National Anti-Drug Strategy, which already gets $385
million a year. The new money will be used to combat illicit drug
production, use and dependency, and will not be used for harm
reduction initiatives.

Researchers with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS have
criticized the Harper government, accusing it of taking an
"ideological" U.S.-style war on drugs approach rather than consider
evidence that suggests Insite is effective.

The head of the United Nations' drug control agency, the
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), criticized the Harper
government earlier this month for "encouraging illicit trafficking"
by allowing Insite to operate legally.

The INCB and U.S. President George W. Bush's administration have led
the international battle against harm reduction initiatives.

The INCB, however, has come under severe criticism, with the Canadian
HIV/AIDS Legal Network issuing a report this month accusing the UN
agency of being "closed to reason" on the harm reduction issue.

Canadian Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in
Africa, accused INCB of aligning itself "with the virus rather than
opposing it determinedly."

A July 24, 2006 Health Canada briefing note on the Insite debate
described supervised injection sites as an important harm reduction
component of the so-called four pillar approach to drugs that
includes prevention, treatment and enforcement.

"While it is not a complete solution in itself, such sites have shown
some promising results in several European countries and in Australia."