CRANKY CLARKSON UPROAR MASKS GOOD DRUG NEWS

Judging from the uproar in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside this week, you'd
think the murderous Macbeth himself had invaded the neighbourhood.

Straight from the Kitsilano stage of Bard On The Beach, where Shakespeare's
evil Scot and his witches have boiled newt-eyes and lizard-legs all summer.

"Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined!

"Something wicked this way comes!"

But no. It was just Gov.-Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and hubby, whose mere
appearance now seems guaranteed to bring out the worst in people.

What a clever way for the anti-Adie protesters and bile-fuelled pundits to
deflect attention from the good things happening in the challenged but proud
neighbourhood. It was so much easier to slag Clarkson than bother with the
promising new approaches to treating heroin addiction discussed at this
week's downtown conference of international medical experts, organized by
Vancouver's Keeping the Door Open multi-stakeholder group.

Hubby John Ralston Saul was even belittled in print for, among other things,
"wine-loving." The theory being "wine-loving bad, whine-loving good."

Once the howlers had finished with Clarkson and Saul, it was a mere baby
step to rain vitriol upon the homeless, the drug-addicted, the
safe-injection site, the harm-reduction initiatives.

Much more fun to go on about "wild-looking creatures" who populate the
"nutty" neighbourhood. One letter-writer to The Province offered this
humanitarian thought: "Who the hell cares if another addict dies? I sure
don't."

The comment was made in the context of drug addicts, but if it were extended
to include all addictions -- cigarettes, booze, fast food, bad television,
etc. -- you can see we'd have a bit of a problem.

Everyone would be dead, and no one would have cared.

We're talking about human beings here, not newts and lizards. Addiction is a
health issue, not a topic for scorn by the morally high and almighty.

And on the addiction front, there is very good news in yesterday's report on
the first year of the neighbourhood safe-injection site's operation.

According to Vancouver Coastal Health and the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, the Insite location is averaging almost 600 visits per day.

That's almost 600 fewer back-alley visits per day for injection-drug users,
which is saving lives. In the last six months, Insite handled 107 overdoses
by 78 clients with no deaths, which is 78 fewer potential overdose deaths on
the street.

Some 262 referrals were made to addiction counsellors in the past six
months, with 78 referrals to detox and withdrawal-management programs. Two
to four people are referred to addiction treatment each day, and at least
one weekly to methadone maintenance treatment.

"Based on what we see in the report, Insite has saved lives and improved
lives," says VCH president Ida Goodreau.

So why is everyone so damned cranky?