INJECTING COMMON SENSE

Common sense is a slogan that has gained a lot of cache in political
circles, in part because beleaguered citizens see so little of it.

That's why the common-sense decision to end the ill-fated $600,000
experiment in providing tattoos to inmates in federal prisons is
simply refreshing.

Although the program aimed to curb the spread of AIDS and hepatitis
C, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said there was no evidence
the initiative was actually achieving those goals.

The move won plaudits from the Union of Canadian Correctional
Officers, who noted the official clinics did not stop illicit
tattooing within the prisons.

Inmates are up to 10 times more likely to contract HIV, and 30 times
more likely to get hepatitis C, than the general Canadian population.

If the goal is to reduce infection rates, it would be far better for
the government to spend the money to enforce a zero-tolerance policy
on the drugs prisoners inject with dirty syringes.