MPS CHALLENGE PLAN FOR DRUG SITES

'Don't Do It,' Vancouver Mayor-Elect Warned On Injection Sites And Olympic
Referendum

Two Canadian Alliance MPs who represent Lower Mainland ridings say
Vancouver voters are on the wrong track if they believe "shooting
galleries" are going to solve the horrendous drug problems of the Downtown
Eastside.

MP James Moore (Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam) also challenged
Vancouver's mayor-elect Larry Campbell to include a question on safe
injection sites in a proposed referendum on whether the city should host
the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Moore said a specific vote is necessary because all three of the main
contenders for the mayor's office supported the so-called "harm reduction"
strategy that includes safe injection sites, leaving voters with no clear
way to express their opinions.

"The overwhelming message from my constituents is, 'Don't do it. It's not a
step in the right direction,"' said Moore.

"If he wants to have a referendum on the Olympics then maybe he should put
some other ideas on the referendum table as well, including this idea of
shooting galleries."

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White (Langley-Abbotsford), who has visited
several injection sites in Europe, said Vancouver voters have been misled
about the risks.

"They are nothing but a magnet for drug addicts from all over the country,
plus the United States, to go to Vancouver," White said.

He was responding to comments Health Minister Anne McLellan made in the
House of Commons.

"In light of the election results in Vancouver, I take it that the new
mayor and his council might be interested in pursuing safe injection
sites," McLellan said Monday.

McLellan, set to unveil guidelines for the establishment of injection sites
next week, has insisted that the federal government will not force those
controversial facilities on communities that don't want them.

"These guidelines will form the basis for a local community, if they so
choose, to make an application for a safe injection site," McLellan told
the House of Commons.

New Democratic Party MP Libby Davies, whose Vancouver East riding includes
the Downtown Eastside, said that's the closest McLellan has come to giving
a "green light" to safe sites.

Secretary of State Stephen Owen was more blunt, saying the victory by
Campbell and the left-leaning COPE meets McLellan's demand for community
consensus.

"I think this is pretty resounding," said Owen (Vancouver Quadra), the
junior minister responsible for western diversification and Indian affairs.

"I think the public spoke very clearly in saying they wanted someone they
believed would implement it very seriously."

McLellan wasn't available for interviews after question period, so her
officials referred the media to previous statements in which she said
applicants must meet a number of criteria, including proof of support from
"all the key stakeholders."

Davies said she is still concerned that McLellan will insist on broad
support from the business community. Merchants in Gastown and Chinatown
have led the fight against safe injection sites.

"That's a huge condition," Davies said. "You're never going to have
unanimity on a thing like this. If it was TB [tuberculosis] she wouldn't
even question that the business community has to be involved."

White said rather than safe injection sites, the federal government should
first make a serious effort to help establish adequate detox and
rehabilitation centres in major urban areas.

"How do you take that quantum leap from bypassing an attempt to get people
off of that stuff right through to, 'well, give them heroin and give them a
safe place to shoot up?' "

Under the four-pillar proposal to combat drug addiction in Vancouver, there
is no plan to provide heroin at safe-injection sites. The four pillars are
treatment, prevention, harm reduction and enforcement. Safe-injection sites
fall under the harm-reduction category because addicts will be provided
with clean needles to inject intravenous drugs and will be supervised by
medical staff. They are expected to limit the spread of diseases such as
HIV-AIDS and reduce overdose deaths.

White said federal support for sites is almost a given because the concept
is "in vogue" and helps divert the public's attention away from major
problems within the federal Liberal party.

A member of a parliamentary committee on the non-medical use of drugs,
White said he expects the Liberal-dominated committee will endorse the
injection-site concept when it issues a report later this week.

"I suspect word has come down from the minister [to Liberal MPs who control
the committee]: 'you get your committee to justify pilot projects.' "

Councillor Fred Bass, a medical doctor just re-elected for the Coalition of
Progressive Electors, said White is fearmongering.

"First of all, you can control who gets into the injection site," Bass
said. It's possible that access could be restricted to addicts referred by
police officers or social or health-care workers, he said.

"We already have injection sites all over Vancouver," Bass said. "In
laneways, schoolyards, parks, behind buildings. They occur in any place
where one needle is shared among many addicts."

The question, he said, is whether people want to deal with the problem.
Dealers would be kept away from the sites, Bass said, and that could help
to break drug users' connection between buying drugs and using them.

He added that it's "painfully obvious" that there aren't enough detox
facilities in the city, and said nobody in his party seriously believes
drug addiction can be conquered with safe-injection sites alone.

He said such sites do, however, provide an "in" to the treatment process
for people who might not otherwise get close.

"I'm an expert on addiction where cigarettes are concerned," Bass said.
"One of the things about cigarette smoking ... is that 80 per cent of
smokers are not ready to change today."

But by exposing smokers to pamphlets and television ads and other
reminders, he said, more can reach the point where they're ready to quit.