NOTHING SAFE ABOUT INJECTING DRUGS

Re: Mayor and chief have made up their minds, Oct. 5.

In response to Dan Gardner's article, article, I fully support the
chief and the mayor.

The Supreme Court arrived at their decision but unfortunately without
all the evidence for them to make an informed decision. I would have
arrived at the same conclusion as them, but unfortunately they did
not have the evidence that showed the opposing view even though they
are available.

I would ask Gardner and your readers to examine the Drug Prevention
Network of Canada website and read the article on "Erroneous Study on
Insite Exposed" and the "Analysis of the 2011 Lancet Study on deaths
from overdose in the vicinity of Vancouver's Insite Supervised
Injection site and the Supreme Court Decision," a media response from
Real Women of Canada, and you will see clearly that there are
scientific reports showing an opposing view - with them, the Supreme
Court might have arrived at a different conclusion.

Another critical report that was not presented is the federal
government Expert Advisory Report of 2008 that clearly demonstrates
that Insite was not meeting their own objectives.

The Supreme Court decision has rendered Insite legal but that doesn't
necessarily make it right. If people would investigate and research
further, they might arrive at a different conclusion. This is not a
safe injection site, as Gardner states, but a supervised injection
site. There is nothing safe about injecting drugs.

Congratulations White and Watson for taking a stand and knowing that
the Drug Prevention Network of Canada also stands with you given we
are basing our response based on all the facts and evidence that
demonstrate clearly that this program is not working.

Andre Bigras,

Executive

Drug Prevention Network of Canada,

Gatineau