RCMP PUTS INSITE IN ITS SIGHTS

It comes as no surprise that the RCMP does not support Vancouver's
supervised injection site. The future of Insite has become
increasingly precarious since Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to
power.

While Mayor Sam Sullivan pays lip service to the site's benefits, it
is only that. He has remained mute on Harper's refusal to continue
federal support for research at the facility. Instead he has refocused
his energies to matters that his friends in Ottawa find more
palatable. He intends to re-orient the Four Pillars coalition to deal
with "public disorder." In anticipation of the 2010 Olympics, he will
direct at least $1 million next year alone to sweeping the streets
clear of riff raff, the visible symptoms of homelessness, drug
addiction and mental illness.

Even before the release of the frequently anecdotal ramblings-authored
by RCMP Staff Sgt. Chuck Doucette-criticizing the site, the RCMP,
which was initially opposed to the idea, was unconvinced it was succeeding.

In an Oct. 31 letter to the Portland Hotel Community Services Society,
which operates the site, Assistant RCMP Commissioner Raf Souccar made
one point that should chill the hearts of Insite supporters. He said:
"A need remains for further evidence-based research and evaluation of
the SIS in order to determine the true scope of its impact."

This may seem innocuous to the casual observer. But it echoes a line
from federal Tory Health Minister Tony Clement. It is code for: We
don't care how many dozen peer reviewed research articles favourable
to the site have turned up in major world medical journals. Allowing
addicts to use illegal drugs is wrong and we intend to do everything
we can to shut you down.

This point of view from the RCMP and the Tories has raised the issue
of how decisions are made about scientific experiments, because Insite
is one. Insite supporters say decisions should be based on science not
politics.

It was set up to reduce harm from drug addiction. That included
overdose deaths and the spread of HIV-AIDS by reducing incidents of
needles shared by addicts.

Doucette argues that by reducing the "perceived risk" associated with
addiction, Insite is increasing drug use. No evidence is offered other
than to say there is "considerable evidence" to prove this.

In spite of research evidence that says Insite has reduced public
complaints and decreased public drug use, Doucette says "this is not
supported by my independent observations of police officers working in
the area."

Although critics say there is no evidence that it has reduced crime,
that was never its primary intention. Nor was its intention to solve
drug addiction and all the other problems associated with that.

But it has become a symbol of resistance, one small alternative to the
failed American policy called the War On Drugs which is embraced by
the RCMP and, it appears, Harper's Tories. And for that reason its
future remains uncertain.