SAFE INJECTION SITE COLUMN DRAWS IRE

Wow! What a reaction there has been to last week's column that took a
different look at the proposal to set up shooting galleries for heroin and
cocaine addicts - different than merely advocating it as a good and overdue
thing, that is.

I have received a flood of phone calls and e-mails from some well-meaning
but misguided friends, colleagues and strangers who all accused me of being
irresponsible and reactionary for not supporting their point of view that
the "safe-injection sites" are necessary, welcome and a grand and glorious
example of Vancouver's "vibrant" reputation of helping the poor, poor addicts.

Mind you, there also were calls and e-mails from those who agreed with
every word I wrote about how setting up shooting galleries has never
worked, and will only worsen the dependency in the hard-drugs "community,"
as it will line the pockets of the slimy predators who peddle the junk.

The trouble is, those agreeing with having someone (moi) speak out were not
prepared to go public with their support, out of fear of repercussions from
the juggernaut of politicians and pushers who are promoting the idea as the
greatest thing since diced carrots.

It may not surprise you to learn that the Vancouver Sun's liberal - make
that Liberal - view of safe-injection sites meant that your humble
correspondent's effort to have the column carried by that august daily
newspaper as an opposing viewpoint to its constant editorial support of the
proposal was curtly and unceremoniously rejected.

Given the fact that the newspaper has regurgitated hundreds of trees to
carry what seems to be a never-ending series on coddling the poor "victims"
who cannot, could not and will not help themselves, that reaction probably
was inevitable.

As a sometimes-frustrated freelancer, that goes with the territory.
However, the final straw came with the front-page Sun headline last Friday:
"B.C. supports safe-injection sites," as though there was some proof that
the majority of people in this province had somehow been polled or decided
that having waves of junkies flock to our shores to get stoned at
taxpayers' expense was OK with them.

Reading the "news" report, however, showed that no such proof existed. The
writer and the headline writer were not singing from the same songbook, so
to speak, but the damage has been done.

The story had Premier Gordon Campbell and his fledgling minister George
Abbott cautiously endorsing the plan, and wanting the federal government to
include it as part of the overall Canada health care system. You may recall
that federal Health Minister Allan Rock says the whole drug-taking thing is
a health issue, not a criminal one, as if those snorting or injecting
poison into their bodies had no choice, when, of course, they did and do.

So now, if Vancouver gets a shooting gallery, the addicts' havens must be
set up in other cities, too, to allow even more stoners to make choices
without consequences. Give me strength! The inmates may not be running the
asylum yet, but by God, they are at loose in the halls with all the keys!