CLEMENT VOWS TO BLOCK DRUG INJECTION SITES

MPs Propose Pilot Projects

TORONTO and VANCOUVER - Tony Clement said yesterday Ontario will not open
safe drug-injection sites as long as he is the province's Health Minister.

He adamantly rejected a parliamentary committee's recommendation yesterday
that Ottawa remove all regulatory and legislative barriers to such sites,
so that addicts could shoot up heroin and use other drugs they supply
themselves, under the supervision of medical staff.

Ontario's Conservative government will fight safe-injection programs "every
step of the way," he said.

"They do not have that right -- to force the opening of an injection
clinic. They need our co-operation as a province and I will not be giving
that co-operation. I don't think they have the authority to open up these
sites," Mr. Clement said.

"I'm quite frankly appalled," he said. "There's lots that we can do to
increase education, to increase awareness, to increase treatment, to
increase rehabilitation and yet the first thing that this parliamentary
committee does is say: 'Disregard the law, disregard what is ultimately
good for the patient and open up injection sites.' "

The recommendation is the result of an 18-month probe into the extent of
illicit drug problem in Canada. The special committee on non-medical use of
drugs has called for a national drug strategy to address what it sees as a
growing health crisis.

In its report yesterday, the committee also called for pilot projects in
Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to clinically test the effectiveness of
using heroin to treat hardened addicts who don't respond to other methods.
They would be a first in North America.

Mr. Clement said safe-injection sites in the United Kingdom have
accomplished little. The pilot project can go ahead elsewhere, but "not in
Ontario."

"If you want to do it in Vancouver, that's not for me to judge; if you want
to do it Montreal, that's not for me to judge. But if you want to do it in
Toronto, I believe that I should have a say on behalf of the people of
Ontario and I don't think this is the right solution," the Minister said.

The City of Vancouver has been pushing Ottawa to clear the way for
safe-injection sites.

Last week, Larry Campbell, the new Mayor, said officials were gearing up to
submit a proposal to Health Canada, which has issued draft guidelines for
the sites. "We're ready to go right now," Mr. Campbell said on Friday.

He said he hoped the federal government would approve sites for Vancouver
in less than the 60 days Health Canada has proposed.

The approach remains highly controversial. Even the Commons committee is
not united, with Randy White, an Alliance MP who served as co-chair,
issuing a dissenting opinion.

"There is no such thing as a safe consumption site.... It is a gathering
place for people who are addicted," he said.

He said he visited several harm-reduction facilities in Europe, which are
proposed as models for the safe injection sites planned for Vancouver, and
was appalled.

"At the safe-injection sites, there was no checking of the quality of the
drugs used. Surrounding the facilities, I saw human carnage for blocks, as
well as a substantial gathering of addicts and pushers in the areas where
trafficking and using were reluctantly permitted," said Mr. White. "And to
make matters worse, this committee has recommended changing the laws in
order to further handcuff police from providing any level of drug
enforcement .... I wonder how upset [Canadians] will be when they find out
this Liberal-dominated committee has recommended de-facto legalization of
heroin in areas of their major cities."

Mr. White released the report in Vancouver at a press conference with two
other committee members, Liberal Hedy Fry and Libby Davies of the New
Democrats, both of whom promptly took issue with his views.

Ms. Davies said if the committee is at fault, it is only for not going far
enough.

"I would like this to be stronger ... and make sure these safe consumption
sites are up and running in the new year," she said.

Ms. Fry said safe-injection sites and heroin treatment programs are
necessary because so many people are dying in the streets. "Clearly we know
that it has worked in Europe -- we want to make sure it works in Canada,"
she said in support of clinical trials of heroin treatment.

Asked how the success of such projects would be gauged, she replied: "The
measure would be the reduction of overdose deaths."

Ms. Davies agreed. "Number one, safe injection sites will prevent deaths,"
she said.

Despite his dissenting opinion on harm-reduction issues, Mr. White embraced
most of the report.

The report makes 39 recommendations that together call for a major policy
shift to recognize drug addiction as a serious health problem.

It calls for the appointment of a federal "drug czar" to oversee the
government's numerous drug programs, more funding for research, a national
education program and the establishment of two prisons at which inmates can
serve time in a substance-free environment if they choose.