BIG NAMES VOICE SUPPORT FOR SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE

A campaign to keep the city's supervised injection site open has
generated more than 1,700 letters of support, including one from U.S.
activist and linguist Noam Chomsky.

The campaign also got a boost from more than 100 Australian MPs
belonging to that country's parliamentary group for drug law reform.

Part of Chomsky's short letter is posted on the campaign's website
along with letters from Mayor Sam Sullivan, Albert Fok of the
Chinatown Merchants' Association and Police Chief Jamie Graham.

"Though I cannot claim any special expert knowledge in this area, my
understanding is that [Insite] has been a highly successful program,
dealing effectively with the very serious problems of addiction and
its harmful effects on the individuals and on society in general,"
Chomsky wrote. "I would like to join those who are urging that their
request be granted."

Insite at 139 East Hastings is the only legal supervised injection
site in North America. It opened in September 2003 as a three-year
scientific experiment under the watch of Health Canada.

With the experiment drawing to a close Sept. 12, campaign organizers
and their supporters are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to
extend the experiment or simply keep it open indefinitely as a health service.

Though the facility is allowed to operate because of an exemption
under Canada's drug laws, Harper's health minister Tony Clement has
to sign off on the exemption.

Harper has said his government will not use taxpayers' money to fund
drug use. He, however, hasn't specifically said that statement would
apply to Insite.

As the Courier reported July 5, the non-profit PHS Community Services
Society launched the letter writing campaign. The PHS operates Insite
in conjunction with Vancouver Coastal Health.

The campaign has a website and former Vancouver Police Board member
Gillian Maxwell is the spokesperson for the campaign called "Insite
for Community Safety."

The Strathcona resident believes the campaign will put pressure on
Harper and his government to keep Insite open. Maxwell noted the
letter from the Australian MPs is significant because an injection
site has operated in Sydney, Australia for five years. "It was the
first one I had ever seen and I was struck by how ordinary it was,"
said Maxwell, who visited the Australian facility four years ago. "It
was my first experience of just how regular it could be and be part
of our society without a big fuss."

Various evaluations of Insite show the facility is achieving its goal
of reducing disease transmission, overdose deaths and moving addicts
into treatment.

Several studies are posted on the campaign's website at
www.communityinsite.ca. A report by the conservative think tank
Fraser Institute, arguing the war on drugs is a failure, is also on
the website.

Other supporters of Insite include the Chinese Cultural Centre of
Greater Vancouver, AIDS Vancouver and Brent C. Olson, a recovering
addict who wrote that without Insite, "I'm almost 100 per cent sure I
would not be here to write this letter."