INJECTION SITE SAVES LIVES

In his tirade against the Insite facility, former Reform Party MP
Randy White is a little disingenuous in not pointing out that what he
is touting is written by his own colleague, Colin Mangham, and is
published in a U.S. magazine established just two months ago, with
funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.

This is only their second issue.

By contrast, the 24 Canadian studies, funded by Health Canada, have
been published in established, peer-reviewed journals that have
existed since the early 1800s.

This research indicates that the injection site, far from being a
"silver bullet," has a positive contribution to make in our fight
against addiction.

As a nurse watching people living lives that none of us could ever
consider, I ask White to try to help us, rather than take cheap
political shots .

A comprehensive strategy needs programs and services that complement
the life-saving work of the supervised injection site.

If we could all build and implement that strategy, including
harm-reduction, treatment, detox, enforcement, etc., we could move
toward seeing real changes.

Vancouver's injection site saves lives and needs to be a part of this strategy.

Liz Evans

Insite for Community Safety