SECRET REPORT MERELY TROTS OUT THE RCMP'S OLD PREJUDICES ABOUT DRUG USE

Re: RCMP takes a swipe at B.C. injection site, Dec. 11

It is with considerable astonishment that I read about the secret
RCMP report on Insite, and the specific claims by Staff-Sgt. C.D.
Doucette that there is "considerable evidence" that such a facility
reduces the perceived risks and thus increases drug use. I propose
that the RCMP puts this "considerable evidence" on the table for an
open review. Despite the fact that I read and review evidence in this
field from around the world on a daily basis as an essential part of
my work as an addictions scholar, I must have missed rather important
pieces of information because I have not come across such evidence.

It is not a great secret that many law enforcement agencies are
staunchly opposed to addiction problems being transformed into health
issues -- for example, by offering supervised injection sites in
order to prevent death and disease -- rather than crime issues.
Otherwise, it would move addiction out of the jurisdiction of law
enforcement (likely with a corresponding loss of resources). In fact,
this is a century-old challenge for the RCMP, which barely survived
the threat of elimination in the 1920 and seized an emerging "drug
problem" as its new raison d'etre. It has vigorously fought against
any threats of losing this existential basis ever since.

However, if the RCMP would like to take a political or moral stance
against public health interventions like Insite, it should do so
openly, and not conceal such efforts in a veil of science. The RCMP
should focus on enforcing the law, and leave the work of science to
those trained in it.

Benedikt Fischer

Associate Professor, University of Victoria

Senior Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto