RENEW INJECTION SITE LICENCE

In two weeks, the licence for Vancouver's safe drug-injection site
will expire and the federal government shows no interest in renewing
it.

Shutting it down would be a mistake.

It's saving lives and millions of dollars every year while giving
addicts a chance to break the scourge of addiction.

It's also a counter-intuitive approach, that seems to encourage law
breaking. That's the hurdle the federal government seems to be having
trouble leaping.

The injection site was created three years ago in Vancouver's Downtown
East-side, which is reputed to be North America's worst area for open
drug abuse.

Junkies are shooting up heroin and other drugs openly on the streets
and alleys.

They were, and still are, sharing needles and spreading dread
diseases, including AIDS and hepatitis.

It took a lot of persuasion for municipal, provincial and federal
governments to approve the idea of a location where addicts can get
clean needles that are safely disposed of after use, and shoot up in
privacy and safety. Nurses are on staff in the event of an overdose.

The centre, called Insite is working as well as expected. Lives are
being saved. The number of addicts dying of drug overdoses in the area
has been reduced.

The first scientific study of Insite suggests it should be expanded.
The study is published in the current edition of the international
journal Addiction Behaviors.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 addicts who use the centre; 75
per cent say it has improved their lives.

Dr. Evan Wood, a senior author of the study, said the rate of AIDS
infection in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has fallen, and he credits
Insite for that change.

Every case of AIDS prevented saves taxpayers hundreds of thousands of
dollars. On average, it costs the British Columbia health care system
$250,000 to treat one HIV patient.

Insite is the only one of its kind in North America. It's based on a
European model that has proven its worth over many years.

It's not just soft-hearted lefty do-gooders who support it. Business
owners back Insite as well. The junkies were there before the
safe-injection site, and having them shoot up in safety and privacy is
an improvement in the neighbourhood.

Criminalizing and incarcerating junkies has not worked. Addiction is
at least as much a medical problem as a justice issue.

Some users of the safe-injection site say the care they have received
has made them think about turning around their lives.

Evidence of that actually happening is scant. The hurdles that must be
leaped to do so are huge. But unless you think the solution is letting
junkies overdose and die while infecting other junkies with fatal
diseases along the way, Insite deserves more time to prove itself to
skeptics.

Vancouver police say it is effective. So do community leaders and four
of Vancouver's former mayors, including British Columbia Premier
Gordon Campbell.

Campbell is a Liberal by party affiliation, but the B.C. Liberal party
is almost as conservative as the Alberta Progressive Conservatives and
in the mould of mainstream federal Tories.

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper approves the licence extension for
Insite, he won't lose votes to any other federal party rival. He will
open eyes by demonstrating a warm and courageous heart.