U.S. ADVOCATE LAUDS SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE

Critic Says Harper Government Waging Failed American Drug
War

The leading crusader in the U.S. for drug policy reform got his first
look at the city's supervised drug injection site last week.

Dr. Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the New
York-based Drug Policy Alliance, came away impressed after his visit
Friday to Insite on East Hastings.

"I thought it was fantastic," Nadelmann told the Courier on the
sidewalk outside the injection site.

He is a frequent visitor to Vancouver but had never seen Insite in
operation until his tour Friday.

"You've got a well-run facility where people are using drugs inside
and have nurses on hand if something goes wrong," said Nadelmann, who
was in town over the weekend to deliver the keynote address at a drug
policy forum at the Japanese Language Hall.

Insite, which opened in September 2003, is the only legal injection
site in North America and records an average of 600 injections per
day.

Nadelmann, who has a PhD from Harvard and taught politics at Princeton
University, believes Insite is one of Canada's most important public
health initiatives.

He is disappointed the federal government is spending more of
taxpayers' money to appeal a recent higher court ruling that has
allowed Insite to operate indefinitely.

"What an idiotic thing to do," he said. "The Harper government on drug
policy is like a mindless dog wagging the tail of a failed American
drug war, which we in America are already beginning to leave behind."

He pointed to San Francisco as a city where various groups are pushing
for an injection site. But he said the political will is absent.

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom is sympathetic to drug policy reform
but his political aspirations for higher office have kept him from
lobbying for an injection site, Nadelmann said.

"He's not wanted to step out in the way that you saw Philip Owen or
Larry Campbell or Sam Sullivan," he said, referring to Vancouver's
three previous mayors who supported the injection site.

U.S. president Barack Obama has not made any public comments regarding
injection sites. But his administration has made significant changes
related to drug laws and funding, Nadelmann said.

Obama agreed to provide federal funding for needle exchanges and scrap
a cocaine law that was viewed as racist.

The law in question saw the same penalties meted out for possession of
five grams of crack cocaine applied to possession of 500 grams of
powder cocaine.

Nadelmann noted a disproportionate amount of people arrested for crack
were black while white people were caught with larger amounts of
powder cocaine. "It hasn't happened yet but the justice department has
been negotiating in very good faith [to change the law]."

In another move, Nadelmann said, the federal justice department
announced it would no longer go after medical marijuana in the 14
states where its use was approved by state governments. "It basically
said to state legislators that if you want to make medical marijuana
legal in your own state, the feds are not going to stand in the way,"
he said, noting however that police raids continue in some of the 14
states, including Colorado last week.

The Drug Policy Alliance has a $9 million annual budget with a staff
of 45 people. One-third of its funding comes from businessman George
Soros, who donated millions of dollars to various groups that support
the U.S. Democratic Party.