TORIES OVERLOOKED POLLS ON INJECTION SITES

The Harper government went against advice contained in its own
internal opinion polling when it put a freeze on the creation of any
new drug-injection sites for hard-core addicts, CanWest News Service
has learned.

Just days before Health Minister Tony Clement's Sept. 1 announcement
that the government would stop, for an indefinite period of time,
considering applications to open injection sites modelled on the
existing one in Vancouver, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's top
bureaucratic advisers received a poll they had commissioned showing
six in 10 Canadians support the program.

In fact, the survey revealed that a clear majority -- 56 per cent
versus 38 per cent -- want the government to create more injection
sites that allow addicts to receive drugs with clean needles under
the care of medical professionals. In British Columbia, home to the
country's only safe-injection program, support for additional
programs stood at 64 per cent.

The survey of 1,407 Canadians was completed by Decima Research Aug.
21 for the Privy Council Office. It is considered accurate to within
2.4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

The country was split on the best way to treat drug addiction, with
45 per cent of Canadians saying that "enforcing the law and punishing
drug users" was the best way to proceed and 52 per cent opposed the
law-and-order approach. And seven in 10 also said Ottawa should
emphasize prevention, enforcement and treatment, rather than make it
safer to use drugs.

However, 56 per cent said safe-injection programs are "a step
forward," while 38 per cent said they are a step backward.

"The interesting thing is that the public is ahead of the government,
as they most always are," said Liberal Senator Larry Campbell, a
former Vancouver mayor and an advocate of safe-injection sites. "I
really hope the government looks and listens to it."