STEPHEN HARPER LACKS NECESSARY INSITE

The last time drug user Dean Wilson got upset with politicians over
their treatment of addicts, he dragged a coffin before then-Vancouver
mayor Philip Owen at City Hall.

Outside the Westin Bayshore on October 8, where Conservative Leader
Stephen Harper was speaking to supporters, Wilson-president of the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users-joined a pro-Insite rally before
talking to the Georgia Straight inside the hotel lobby. He quickly
ruled out a similar coffin stunt for federal Conservatives regarding
Vancouver's supervised-injection site, Insite.

"I don't need a coffin," Wilson boomed. "I've got the law and I've got
the science on my side. The law said that we were right [to have
Insite running to help addicts], and the science said that we were
right."

Asked if he thought his actions would make any difference to the
election outcome, Wilson continued: "I know it's going to be another
minority government. We're going to carry on like that, and that's
fine. But I'm just telling you the guy [Harper] is sick. Tony Clement,
for one, doesn't know shit about health, and he's a health minister.
And the prime minister doesn't care about poor people. He doesn't care
about sick people. Instead of taking tons of dirty laundry and hiding
it, let's build a laundromat..There are ways of solving these
problems, and I think it's time to do it."

The Straight tried to obtain a response from Harper regarding Wilson's
allegations, at one point moving through security and supporters to
meet Harper at the door as he prepared to leave the Bayshore event.

Was he aware of the protests outside? And, if he were to win another
term as prime minister, what would he do with Insite?

Harper ignored the Straight's questions. He exited the building after
one final wave to his supporters. Outside, Mark Townsend-the PHS
Community Services Society's executive director-told the Straight he
found Harper's attitude "very, very unfortunate".

"Millions of dollars are being spent assessing this thing [Insite] and
the evidence is in, and he just doesn't want to listen," Townsend
said. "It's like he's a control freak. He knows how everything is, and
he can't listen to anyone else."

The Straight left phone messages for other Conservative candidates, as
well as with Chuck Doucette, a retired RCMP officer and the West Coast
spokesperson for the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, but none
replied by the Straight's deadline.

At the Bayshore, Strathcona resident Gillian Maxwell told the crowds,
"We need to keep Insite open because Insite saves lives. The
scientists say it saves lives and the B.C. Supreme Court says that
it's a health-care facility, and people who inject drugs deserve a
right to health care. We're here to tell Mr. Harper that he has to
keep Insite open and he has to start caring for Canadians."

In May, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield ruled that Insite
could continue to operate as a supervised-injection site, the only one
in the country, and declared sections of the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act unconstitutional.

"In my opinion, Section 4(1) of the CDSA, which applies to possession
for every purpose without discrimination or differentiation in its
effect, is arbitrary. In particular, it prohibits the management of
addiction and its associated risks at Insite," Pitfield wrote in his
ruling.

"We need to have a government that's responsible, and helps people and
doesn't punish them," Maxwell told the Straight. "Whatever ways we can
find to get the message out there, we will do it. These people are
important. They are our most marginal, vulnerable population in the
country, and we need to take care of them."

Looking at Insite by the numbers

Date of Insite's first supervised injection: September 21,
2003

Visits to Insite per day: 750 to 800

Overdoses at Insite between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008: over
200

Fatalities at Insite during the same period: 0

Insite users who are HIV-positive: 18%

New cases of HIV in the Downtown Eastside in 1996:
2,100

New cases of HIV in the Downtown Eastside in 2006:
30

Vancouver residents who support Insite: 65 percent

Source: Vancouver Coastal Health

[sidebar]

What will Stephen Harper's reelection as prime minister mean for
Insite?

Hedy Fry
Liberal MP, Vancouver Centre

"I think he [Harper] will close it down and turn it into a treatment
centre. He thinks it should be a treatment centre, which is what
[Conservative Vancouver Centre candidate] Lorne Mayencourt has said he
will also do. They don't understand the difference between harm
reduction and treatment, and they don't realize, any of them, that
there are four components to Public Health 101."

Adriane Carr Deputy leader, federal Green party, and Green candidate
in Vancouver Centre

"[He's] part of a minority government. So, he's going to have to look
at the other parties, and I believe that all the other parties are
saying that Insite also needs to be funded. He'd be flaunting
democracy to shut it down..Liberals have supported it. They did the
original start-up, so it makes sense they would continue it."

Gillian Maxwell Strathcona resident

"I think what will happen if he remains prime minister is his
government will appeal the B.C. Supreme Court [Pitfield] decision that
says Insite is health care. He will use taxpayers' money to do that,
and he'll then lose the appeal and try some other way of trying to
close it, because he simply cannot abide it."

Betty Krawczyk Work Less Party candidate in Vancouver
East

"I think it will be finished. He's determined to abolish it, and he's
got a willing audience in [Premier Gordon] Campbell and a weak mayor
and council and a turncoat RCMP, who are meddling in things that they
don't know anything about, and who have prejudiced opinions about it.
I think it's outrageous that they have taken the position on Insite
that they have. It's not their job."