INJECTION SITE EVALUATION SUBJECT TO STRICT GUIDELINES

Re: Mayor to ask Harper to let drug site stay, April 26

The B.C Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS is extremely disappointed
with former Tory MP Randy White's comments that question the
reputation and good standing of our academic and clinical
organization. He said research regarding the impact of Vancouver's
supervised injection site will be "biased" in favour of extending the program.

White should be aware that Health Canada's guidelines require that
all research conducted on Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection
site, be "reviewed through a credible peer-review process, having
regard to the credentials of the reviewers and/or research organization."

Our centre was contracted by Vancouver Coastal Health to conduct an
arms-length evaluation of the impact of Insite on public order and
public health.

The centre's scientific investigators, and its research findings, are
not "biased." In fact, all findings from our evaluation to date have
been subjected to the highest standard of external scientific review
prior to publication and dissemination. Numerous studies based on the
evaluation of Insite have now been published in some of the most
prestigious international medical and public health journals in the world.

Drs. Thomas Kerr, Evan Wood and Julio Montaner

Principal investigators of Insite BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS