WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS?

Jasper Booster -- I am already anticipating the rebuttal...if people
just didn't do drugs then we wouldn't have to be concerned about
keeping Insite open. If life were that simple there wouldn't be an
addict population estimated to be about 5,000 and some of the highest
HIV and Hepatitis-C infection rates in the world in the downtown
eastside of Vancouver. This area is Vancouver's poorest neighborhood
and is considered to be Canada's drug capital. Located in this
undesirable area is Insite, North Americas' first and only safe
injection facility. The B.C. government contributed the funds required
to establish Insite and operational funding is provided through
Vancouver Coastal Health (total costs for the past three years are
equivalent to treating about 12 new HIV infections).

The facility has the overwhelming support of the Vancouver Police, the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), the Canadian HIV/AIDS
Legal Network, the local business community, science and medical
experts, the city of Vancouver and the provincial government. The
facility has been extensively researched and is internationally
renowned. Yet, Insite was nearly forced to close its doors on Sept. 12
when the three-year operating exemption (under Section 56 of the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) granted by Health Canada, expired.

One day during the International AIDS Conference, 16 busloads of harm
reduction activists stopped lunchtime traffic at some of Toronto's
busiest intersections to send a clear message to Prime Minister Harper
(who was evidently cooling his heels in the far north) that the world
values Insite and expects Canada to allow scientifically proven
approaches for combating HIV transmission to continue.

Last week federal Health Minister Tony Clement granted a last minute
reprieve allowing the facility to stay open until December of 2007;
however, the minister has yet to take steps to ensure the continuation
of this essential service beyond that date.

Currently the facility is open 18 hours/day, 7 days/week and sees an
average of 607 clients a day. At Insite, intravenous drug users find a
clean, safe environment where they can inject their own drugs under
the supervision of clinical staff. The advantages are many.

Without the pressure of having to fix in the street or in an alley
(using dirty or shared rigs, in hurried circumstances) addicts are
able to ensure they are not receiving or transmitting infectious
diseases and the risk of dying from overdose is drastically reduced
(there were 453 overdoses but no deaths during the past three-year
trial period at Insite).

Addicts also have the opportunity to build rapport with Insite staff
and receive medical attention and referral for counseling,
rehabilitation and other needed services.

This is a population which is extremely marginalized, very unpopular
and almost completely cut off from mainstream society; a public health
nightmare in terms of providing meaningful service.

Extensive research has shown this safe-injection site to be a critical
tool for harm reduction by curbing public drug use, lessening the
incidence of discarded paraphernalia on city streets, stemming the
practice of sharing needles and is also connected to a reduction of
drug related crime in the area.

The government needs to eliminate any moral judgment from this issue
and focus on the ethical obligation it has in ensuring that the health
care needs of this segment of our population are addressed.
Vancouver's Insite needs to stand as a beacon of decency and standard
for care for other Canadian cities and the rest of the world for
contributing, among other things, to eliminating the transmission of
HIV and other diseases, through intravenous drug use
transmission.

Ultimately, the question we face, as a society is, will we value the
lives of people whose choices we may not respect?

Can we overcome our prejudices and support proven methods for
addressing some aspects of an extremely complex issue or would we
rather remain entrenched in our limited and limiting beliefs and turn
our backs as fellow citizens die quietly in our back alleys?