FEDS SAY DRUG INJECTION CENTRE OFFERS 'NO HOPE'

Capri Agrees That Emphasis Should Be On Prevention And Treatment

If re-elected in November, NPA Coun. Kim Capri says, she will spend
any money available for drug addiction on treatment and
prevention--not on another supervised injection site.

Capri said she supports the Insite injection site on East Hastings,
but she said more money and effort must be directed at preventing
people from drug use and treating those who are addicted.

"The evidence that Vancouver city council has been relying on from
both the academic community and the medical community is indicative
of a reduction in harm so we've remained supportive [of Insite],"
Capri told the Courier.

She pointed out the city is recognized internationally for providing
a supervised injection site for addicts--the only legal site in North
America. But Capri wants the same recognition one day for treatment
and prevention measures.

"To me that would be a victory and really worth celebrating," she added.

Capri's comments come the same week that federal Health Minister Tony
Clement delivered a speech to the Canadian Medical Association and
again questioned the success of Insite.

Clement said Insite offers "no hope" and is "a surrender to a culture
of disease and death." He also questioned the ethics of health
professionals witnessing addicts taking illegal drugs at Insite,
where he said overdoses occur regularly.

"In this way the supervised injection site undercuts the ethic of
medical practice and sets a debilitating example for all physicians
and nurses, both present and future in Canada, who might begin to
question whether it's all right to allow someone to overdose under
their care," said Clement in his speech, which was obtained by the Courier.

Capri didn't hear the minister's speech or read a copy. But she
agrees with Clement that the focus of tackling the city's drug
problem should be on prevention and treatment. Clement said he would
prefer Insite remain open with a changed mandate of prevention and
treatment instead of drug maintenance.

NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner, who is a city councillor, said he
agrees that the city should focus on treatment and prevention for
drug addicts. But Ladner said efforts in those areas shouldn't come
at the expense of Insite, which he supports.

"The whole purpose of Insite, as I see it, is to reduce disease and
death, and I think it's often overlooked that Insite was set up in
large part as a response to an AIDS epidemic which continues in the
Downtown Eastside."

Ladner said he won't lobby for more injection sites, noting the
federal government recently gave the city $10 million towards
treatment. If elected, Ladner said he won't continue to lobby Ottawa
to approve Mayor Sam Sullivan's CAST, or Chronic Addiction
Substitution Treatment program.

Sullivan's program calls for medical doctors to prescribe legal drugs
to up to 800 drug addicts. Ladner said the program's flaw is that it
assumes drug addicts will never lose their dependency on illegal drugs.

"You have to always aim at abstinence rather than maintenance," he said.

Sullivan has told the Courier that he tailored his drug policy
approach to what the ruling Conservative government wanted. Although
Ladner said he will work with senior levels of government, he will
not fashion his approach to the government of the day.

"I don't see that I would adjust my policy based on who's in power,"
Ladner said. "You make the most of whatever you can get of whoever is
in power, obviously. But you maintain your position based on what you
believe in."