INSITE MUST REMAIN OPEN IF IT IS TO CONTINUE TO SAVE LIVES

InSite, Vancouver's supervised injection site, has been a success.
Public health experts and doctors around the world agree; harm
reduction is an essential component of any drug strategy. Yet Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives want to shut InSite
down. In August, Health Minister Tony Clement told reporters that
"InSite is an abomination."

The government has rejected science in favour of a "tough-on-crime"
mentality, which puts our communities at risk. It has adopted an
American-style approach to drug policy, which 220 U.S. mayors declared
to be a failure in a unanimous vote last year. It has turned it's back
on science, public health and public interest. And it has failed in
the first and most fundamental duty of any government, by placing a
greater value on flawed ideology than on the lives of its citizens.

In February of this year, the international scientific journal Nature
criticized the Harper government's "manifest disregard for science,"
and with good reason. The data on InSite are not politically biased,
nor are they ambiguous. Harm reduction saves lives. Many times InSite
is the point of first contact to lead to abstinence by developing an
individual exit strategy. Two hundred and twenty-two drug users
overdosed at InSite -- instead of on the street -- between June 2007
and June 2008. All received immediate medical attention. None died.

According to research published in the International Journal of Drug
Policy, InSite is actively preventing overdose deaths and hospital
visits. A decade ago, almost 200 people died each year from drug
overdoses on the Downtown Eastside. That figure has plummeted.

A study of drug users who inject at InSite reveals a 70 per cent drop
in needle sharing, which has put a dent in transmission rates for HIV
and Hepatitis. Another study shows that InSite has successfully
reduced both the number of people using drugs in public and the amount
of drug related litter in the Downtown Eastside. Unsafe syringe
disposal means unsafe streets for local residents and business owners.

Critics of InSite claim that harm reduction promotes drug use, but a
study published in the British Medical Journal says the opposite.

When it comes to public health, the experts often disagree. That is
not the case with InSite. Still, not even a mountain of evidence has
managed to deter Harper's conservatives. Vancouver Centre Conservative
candidate Lorne Meyencourt has claimed that InSite should "refocus its
energies on recovery, getting people into detox [and] getting people
into treatment."

Here too, the Conservatives are apparently immune to facts. Harm
reduction is just one part -- alongside prevention, treatment and
enforcement -- of the comprehensive "Four Pillars" approach to drug
policy that was adopted by the City of Vancouver in 2001. It has since
been endorsed by the United Nations World Health Organization. There
are over 100 InSites in Europe and Australia and they have operated in
Switzerland for over 20 years. Since opening its doors, InSite has
made over 6,000 referrals, 40 per cent of them to addiction
counseling. InSite operates an in-house short-term detox facility
called OnSite , and has begun to explore opening a new long-term
recovery facility.

None of this seems to matter to the Conservatives. Speaking to the
Canadian Medical Association this August, Clement accused doctors who
support harm reduction programs of being "unethical." Vancouver MP
Hedy Fry said at the time that Clement was "overstepping every
acceptable boundary ... by pontificating on what he considered to be
appropriate treatment." Fry is right. Doctors swear an oath to "first
do no harm." Canadians should not tolerate a government that thinks
otherwise.

The Harper government would sooner spend Canadians' tax dollars on
putting drug users in jail.

InSite is far from the "abomination" that Clement says it is.
Vancouver has developed a made-in-B.C. approach to drug policy that
has saved lives and set an example for the world, fashioned after
proven successes in Europe. We're proud of the example that our city
has set and the health standard that we can continue to uphold as a
community once we elect a new federal government.

In the meantime, if Harper is looking for an "abomination," he should
examine his own record on public health. It's not just a disgrace,
it's deadly.