BEING RIGHT CAN BE ALL WRONG

Though on the surface they may not appear to have much in common, the
issues of global warming and safe-injection drug sites are two of the
most hotly debated topics of the day.

Both seem to provoke a seemingly endless supply of strong, polarizing
opinions. Both involve calls for strong government action. And both
have been turned into a fertile field for taxpayer-funded studies.

Both involve a supposed "consensus" of scientific opinion --
challenged, of course, by a strongly dissenting minority. And both
have become intensely divisive, with little room for compromise.

Both sides in each debate seem convinced not only that they are
right, but that the other side combines the IQ of a lemming with the
morals of a snake. Both, in other words, exhibit high levels of
self-righteousness.

In that respect, Health Minister Tony Clement's recent comments
questioning the ethics of health professionals who support
Vancouver's publicly funded injection site for drug addicts were
grist for the mill.

They were intended to stir up a pre-election political hornet's nest.
And they achieved that purpose.

"Is it ethical for health-care professionals to support the
distribution of drugs that are of unknown substance or purity or
potency -- drugs that cannot be legally prescribed? If this were done
in a doctor's office, the college [of physicians] would rightly be
investigating," Clement stated.

Predictably, this drew a sharp reaction from Carolyn Bennett, the
federal Liberal public-health critic, who questioned the minister's
audacity in scolding health professionals "about their perceived
ethical failings." But the fact remains that the professionals who
support Insite, Vancouver's safe-injection site, have been equally
quick to chastise those with whom they disagree.

Indeed, those researching the issue tend to sound more like zealous
advocates for a pre-ordained position than disinterested pursuers of
scientific truth. So do many of the researchers into global warming.

In an ideal world, of course, those leading either side of the debate
over "harm reduction" or "climate change" would work together to find
common ground.

At the moment, though, being perceived to be intellectually and
morally superior seems far more important to these higher-purpose people.

Which is why drug addiction remains B.C.'s biggest scourge -- and
environmental pollution continues to run rampant in many parts of the world.