INJECTION SITE CONDEMNED FOR SAVING LIVES

VICTORIA - Who would think that the most disturbing words I've seen
in print for years would come from a Mountie?

When people look back on these times, they will be baffled by our
persistent stupidity when it comes to drugs. From alcohol in the '30s
to crystal meth 70 years later later we keep trying to police
addictions and abuse out of existence. In the process we have spent
untold fortunes, bankrolled every organized crime group from the
Mafia to bikers to Asian gangs and watched as more people suffered
and died, more families were destroyed and more communities damaged.

And in all that time the approach never once showed any signs of working.

The disturbing -- even obscene -- words came in an RCMP report on
Insite, the Vancouver safe-injection site.

The site opened in late 2003, Canada's first experiment in giving
addicts a safe, clean place to shoot up. The theory -- tested in
other countries -- is that the site offers big benefits. People
injecting drugs in the centre don't share needles, so they don't
spread HIV and hepatitis and other illnesses. If they overdose, help
is near. They can get medical care. If they're ready to try quitting,
they can be referred to services.

And they aren't sticking needles in their arms on the street, a
significant benefit to neighbours and nearby businesses.

It has worked. More than dozen serious research studies have looked
at Insite's impact. They've been reviewed by independent scientists
and published in The Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine and
other journals. The site has increased the chance addicts will decide
to try treatment. It has cut the spread of deadly diseases and saved
lives. Street problems are reduced.

And there is no evidence that it has increased drug use, which is not
surprising. People are not going to go say, "hey, a safe-injection
site, I think I'll try heroin."

But the Conservative government is unconvinced.

Insite's three-year operating certificate was up for renewal this
fall. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he didn't have enough
information to make a decision, despite the research and the support
from Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, Premier Gordon Campbell, Vancouver
police and public-health officials.

The federal government refused to renew Insite's operating
certificate, instead giving the site a temporary reprieve until the
end of next year. The prime minister said he wanted more research
(then his goverment cut off research funding). Harper said he
especially wanted to hear from the RCMP.

Peter O'Neil of the Vancouver Sun made a freedom of information
request for RCMP documents on Insite. He found that the Mounties'
regional co-ordinator for drugs and organized crime awareness had
prepared a negative report.

There were no statistics or analysis in the three-page document, just opinion.

The RCMP doesn't actually patrol the area where the site is located.
And the report didn't provide any evidence to challenge the studies
showing the site has resulted in more people seeking treatment and saved lives.

In fact, the RCMP argues, the fact that the site saves lives might be
a bad thing.

"The RCMP has concerns regarding any initiative that lowers the
perceived risks associated with drug use," the report says. 'There is
considerable evidence to show that, when the perceived risks
associated to drug use decreases, there is a corresponding increase
in number of people using drugs."

Stop and think what those two sentences say.

The RCMP "has concerns" about a safe-injection site or any other
measure that makes drug use less dangerous.

If someone's daughter gets AIDs, or someone's father dies in an
alley, that's not necessarily a bad thing, says our national police
force. More deaths and illness might deter others from doing drugs.

It's cruel and stupid, especially as people have been dying for years
and drug use continues.

Safe-injection sites save lives, reduce addiction and make the
community safer. And those, apparently, are seen as bad things by the
RCMP and the Harper government.

FOOTNOTE

The safe-injection site has been criticized by U.S. drug officials.
And reports this week revealed the Harper government has been
consulting U.S. government officials on its new drug policy, holding
meetings between "various senior-level meetings between U.S.
officials and ministers/ministers' offices." It would a be a tragedy
if Canada followed the disastrously expensive, ineffective U.S. approach.