RCMP LAUNCH INTERNAL REVIEW INTO INSITE REPORT

The RCMP have begun an internal review into allegations it
commissioned academic critiques of a controversial Vancouver
drug-injection site, a letter released publicly said yesterday, but
the researcher to whom the note is addressed says it's nothing more
than "damage control."

Documents released last week by Vancouver's Pivot Legal Society
allege that the Mounties paid for research on Insite, a downtown
supervised safe-injection clinic, in an effort to contest studies
that typically found that the facility had a beneficial effect. Some
of the positive findings were from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, which, in an e-mail that Pivot Legal Society said was
written by an RCMP officer, was referred to as the "centre for excrement."

RCMP Pacific region Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass said in an
interview yesterday that he didn't know about the commissioned
research until Pivot's allegations were published in the media last
week. In a letter to Julio Montaner, a prominent AIDS researcher who
leads the Centre for Excellence and supports Insite, Deputy
Commissioner Bass said the allegations "are taken seriously and are
under [internal RCMP] review."

He also said in an interview that the "excrement" comment was
incorrectly attributed to an RCMP officer, but wouldn't provide the
e-mails to support the claim, or say who sent them.

"However, regardless of their origin, the Force categorically
condemns the sentiments and derogatory tone found within these
comments," his letter read.

But Dr. Montaner is not satisfied.

"This letter is absolutely unacceptable," Dr. Montaner said. "They
were caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and they're basically
trying to say: 'How can we get away while blaming someone else?' "

The RCMP letter, in which Deputy Commissioner Bass offers to meet
with Dr. Montaner, was posted online as a news release at the same
time it was sent to Dr. Montaner, who wasn't aware of it until
contacted by The Globe and Mail.

Dr. Montaner said scheduling conflicts could now prevent him from
meeting with Deputy Commissioner Bass until November.

"It seems to be their eagerness to get in touch with me is in
contrast with their process of engaging themselves in a public
process of damage control," Dr. Montaner said.

Deputy Commissioner Bass's letter didn't mention a study the Mounties
commissioned by Colin Mangham, who was also the director of the Drug
Prevention Network of Canada, and whose report Dr. Montaner called an
"opinion piece."

If the RCMP review reveals that some officers sought to commission
biased research, it would "be a matter of significant concern,"
Deputy Commissioner Bass said, adding that amid "polarized" opinion,
he'd now like more research before passing final judgment on Insite.

"I think the jury's still out on Insite. I certainly welcome the
ongoing research. Credible research," he said.

Pivot lawyer Doug King said it was a partial victory that the RCMP
said they'd commissioned research.

The RCMP offered to meet with Pivot, but the society would rather
support an independent review and refused the invitation, Mr. King said.

"If they're investigating it themselves, chances are they're going to
come to the conclusion that they acted appropriately," Mr. King said.
"Really, the point of [releasing the documents last week] was to get
the Auditor-General involved."

On Tuesday, federal Auditor-General Sheila Fraser told Mr. King her
office is considering stepping in, but cautioned that it is "not
committing to audit the issue you have raised."

Allan Castle, a former political scientist who is now the B.C. RCMP's
criminal analysis researcher, said the key to a long-term solution on
the future of Insite is collaboration among researchers, including
Dr. Montaner, to debate the facility's health impact in relation to
the social-justice implications of a supervised injection centre for
illegal drugs.

"What's the relationship between health matters, drug injection, and
criminality? These things are really difficult to unpack," he said.
"You can't actually answer those questions unless you get the health
researchers and the criminal-justice researchers in the same room."