RCMP QUESTION SAFE INJECTION SITE RESEARCH

The B.C. division of the RCMP does not support keeping the city's
supervised injection site open because it has yet to see an
"arms-length report" of the evaluation of the facility.

RCMP Staff Sgt. John Ward, a media liaison officer for the national
force's B.C. headquarters, said the force has yet to see research that
"we can have some confidence in."

"Until such time as we can have an arms-length report by an
independent person or group to show us how well or how effective that
site is, then we're not in a position to support it-period," Ward told
the Courier.

Insite, at 139 East Hastings, is the only legal injection site in
North America. Its operating licence with the federal government
expires Sept. 12.

The RCMP's position comes despite the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS publishing more than 12 studies on Insite in prestigious
medical journals such as the Lancet and the New England Journal of
Medicine.

Health Canada chose the B.C. Centre to conduct evaluations of Insite
after the Centre applied under a request for proposal competition. The
contract was worth $1.5 million.

Some of the studies concluded the facility isn't encouraging drug use,
that drug addicts are being referred to treatment, aren't sharing
needles and aren't dying of overdoses in the building.

When the Courier asked Ward if the RCMP didn't see the B.C. Centre's
studies as credible, he replied, "So far, we haven't seen anything
that we feel is sufficiently independent that we can look at."

Dr. Thomas Kerr, a scientist with the B.C. Centre, said he found
Ward's comments "bizarre." He said the research papers he co-authored
are published only after a rigorous review by top scientists.

"We don't just write this stuff and throw it out there," Kerr said.
"It's one thing to write a consultant's report and make all kinds of
accusations and claims. It's another to write a scientific study,
submit it to a journal like the New England Journal of Medicine, have
it go through independent anonymous review and then be accepted for
publication."

Kerr acknowledged the B.C. Centre has criticized police crackdowns on
drug users, saying they cause addicts to share needles and engage in
unsafe injection practices.

However, he said that criticism shouldn't be seen as a bias in favour
of Insite. Kerr pointed out he can't "editorialize" the research and
can only speak to the data collected.

Kerr called a press conference Wednesday to refute claims by the RCMP.
He was joined by former Vancouver police inspector Ken Frail and
teacher Susie Ruttan, who is a member of Grief to Action, a support
group for parents of children addicted to drugs.

Ruttan said her son was addicted to heroin and has a bipolar disorder,
but is now recovering and working on a farm in eastern Canada. She
said her son visited Insite one day, looked at his tired face in the
mirror and saw the needle in his arm. He left the facility and walked
to the family home in Kerrisdale, where he told his mother that he was
ready to seek treatment. "I'm not trying to say that everybody who
walks into Insite is going to have such an epiphany," Ruttan said.
"I'd like [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper to know this story_this
could be your child. Addiction knows no boundaries."

Harper's health minister, Tony Clement, is expected to make a decision
on the future of Insite before the facility's operating licence
expires Sept. 12.