A MATTER OF LIVES IS TOO IMPORTANT FOR POLITICS

There are a few issues where politics simply has no place. The future
of Vancouver's supervised injection site is definitely one of them.

The site is frequented by 600 to 700 souls who daily show up with
their own heroin or cocaine, receive clean equipment to shoot up with
and get high under a nurse's supervision. They then chill out before
exiting for a reunion with reality.

The site reflects the misfortune of those who have lost their way in
the world to the extent they feel compelled to intravenously vacation
from the here and now.

It equally reflects the misfortune of a dismayed society at a loss
about how to cope with the down-and-outers.

Three years ago, after Herculean lobbying by determined former mayor
Philip Owen, a Liberal government in Ottawa -- on an experimental
basis -- agreed to relax drug laws to enable the Insite centre to
operate on East Hastings.

Since, more than 7,000 drug users have visited Insite. Differing
reports say between 330 and 500 individuals have overdosed at the
facility. Quite likely, many of them would have otherwise died alone
in back alleys.

No one considered Insite a positive answer to the drug problems on
the Downtown Eastside. All it was meant to achieve was "harm reduction."

That is, fewer overdose fatalities and prevention of the spread of
HIV and Hep C through provision of clean needles.

Initially, it was difficult for most Vancouverites to get their heads
around the innovation, costing $500,000 a year, an experiment that
was the first of its kind on the continent.

After all, should society in any way condone drug use? Why should
Canada make an exception in law for a relatively small group that
refuses to take personal responsibility for its actions? Where are
the users getting the coke and heroin they bring to the site?

Why doesn't B.C. fund more detox beds and drug-rehab centres and
dispatch social worker to funnel the drug users toward those services?

Ah, now, that's where ideology starts coming into play.

Those in the centre and on the right of the political spectrum are
legitimately asking these questions, which derive from personal belief systems.

Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are also looking at Insite
through an ideological lens, and have given broad hints they won't
continue the experiment after Sept. 12, when renewed federal sanction
is required.

Harper hasn't accepted invitations in the past to tour the site.
Moreover, if he were inclined to give the nod to the site, the
politically opportune time to have announced its continuation was
during the recent AIDS conference in Toronto.

Philosophically, Harper is all about taking personal responsibility,
wanting people to be members of that great ordinary hard-working,
middle class community that he aims to represent and convince to vote for him.

But the Insite experiment is not an issue that can be filtered
through an ideological prism or put to any moral test. It's a flawed
response to a debilitating global problem no one has yet been able to
effectively tackle.

As someone who isn't a drug user, I wish Insite would disappear,
along with the need for it.

But who am I, who is any politician to judge? It's not appropriate
for the PM to make a political decision on this matter any more than
it would be appropriate for him to prescribe medication to someone
who arrives at his office with heart failure.

Vancouver police say the drug injection site is working and should be
continued.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan says it's meeting its goal of harm
reduction and should be continued.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says it's doing the job and should be continued.

Even the RCMP states the site appears to have met its objectives in
reducing overdose deaths.

The bottom line -- a few human beings are still with us today as a
result of that supervised injection site.

Harper should take a big step back and assign some semi-anonymous
parliamentary secretary to quietly announce late on a Friday
afternoon that the status quo will prevail regarding the Insite centre.

The issue, pure and simple, has nothing to do with politics.