INSITE'S SUCCESSES CAN'T BE IGNORED

Eleven days.

That's how much time there is between the time you read this column
and when the legal exemption that allows Insite, North America's
first supervised injection site for drug users runs out.

It's bizarre that we're this close to Insite's possible end without
knowing its fate, but federal health minister Tony Clement continues
to stall on a decision. Needs more time, more consultation. I wonder,
though, if that consultation is with his cabinet mates and
strategists, or with actual researchers.

Clement needn't look far for evidence that Insite has succeeded at
its modest goals. First-hand data? It's there. Constant communication
between workers in Vancouver and Health Canada? Yes. Peer-reviewed
articles in respected journals? Check. (For the curious, Insite's
supporters have posted over a dozen scientific papers based on
research drawn from the site at www.communityinsite.ca)

The minister would benefit from a talk with Dr. Thomas Kerr, Insite's
blunt-spoken lead researcher. Kerr will tell you that the site is no
panacea, but that it delivers results. It also hasn't resulted in an
increase in injection drug use - refuting a common objection of the
site's opponents. But Kerr hasn't yet met with Clement, and there's
no sign that he will before Insite's exemption runs out.

While Clement hasn't found the time to meet with the people actually
researching Insite, he's managed to meet with Swedish authorities for
their views on how to proceed. Why Sweden, you ask? They may be
lacking in first-hand experience with Vancouver's drug problems, but
their hardline approach suits Conservative tastes.

I could go on about how it's better for drug users to dissolve their
fix in sterile water rather than puddle scum or urine, or that when
they meet health personnel when they use, they're more likely to
enter detox and treatment than when they're scrambling on the streets.

But you either know this by heart, or reflexively deny it. So let's
talk efficiency. Vancouverites agonized and debated for a decade
before accepting harm-reduction measures, a period when some very
hardened skeptics accepted that, amongst other measures, clean
injection rooms were a part of combating and alleviating drug use.

Now, the feds can either hold out and rehash the same arguments,
letting the problem of drug use fester in the meantime, or they can
bypass all that by learning from our experience. Same end result, no
wasted time, fewer wasted lives - and it gives the Conservatives a
chance to show that they're not blinkered ideologues.

But if the government spikes Insite, or stalls until its exemption
runs out, then no decent Vancouverite should support the
Conservatives in the next election. If they won't respect this city,
then its residents owe them nothing in return.