Pubdate: Sun, 9 Mar 2008
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2008 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Christina Montgomery, Canwest News Service
Cited: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS 
http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca
Cited: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network http://www.aidslaw.ca
Referenced: INCB annual report http://drugsense.org/url/cgfepnHW
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/crack+kits
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

UN DRUG AGENCY CALLED 'STOOGES' OVER CRITICAL REPORT

Safe Injection Site Violates Treaties, World Body Says

Supporters of Canada's harm-reduction approach to drug addiction are 
livid that a United Nations monitoring body wants Ottawa to slam the 
door shut on Vancouver's safe-injection site -- and put an end to 
distribution of "safe" crack kits to addicts.

In an annual report by the International Narcotics Control Board 
released this week, the UN board said distribution of the kits in 
some areas of Canada contravened part of the UN's Convention against 
illicit traffic in narcotics.

The board said the drug programs violate international drug control 
treaties to which Canada is a party.

The disposable crack pipe mouthpieces -- usually rubber-tipped glass 
tubes -- are given to addicts to avoid the spread of blood-borne 
diseases, including HIV and hepatitis, when addicts share pipes.

Vancouver's downtown eastside safe-injection site, known as Insite, 
allows addicts to inject their own heroin and cocaine under the 
supervision of a nurse, who provides them with clean needles.

Medical journals report that Insite, the only facility of its kind in 
North America, has reduced overdoses and blood-borne infections.

But five years into operation, the site's fate is uncertain. It 
operates under an exemption from Canada's Controlled Drugs and 
Substances Act, which runs out in June. The Conservative government 
has not said whether it will extend the exemption.

But the UN report incensed supporters of Insite. Senator Larry 
Campbell, a former mayor of Vancouver and a former coroner, called 
the narcotics board "stooges for a failed U.S. war on drugs" and told 
reporters he would personally block Insite's doorway if officials 
tried to close it down.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan also dismissed the board's report by 
insisting it simply didn't understand Insite's success.

"The way we've approached drug addiction worldwide has been a 
failure," Sullivan told reporters. "We need new approaches. We need 
to be open to innovations."

Thomas Kerr, a research scientist at the B.C. Centre for Excellence 
in HIV-AIDS, voiced concern that Ottawa would seize on the report as 
an excuse to close Insite.

Richard Pearshouse, speaking for the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network, 
said the report wasn't based on "scientific evidence that supports 
these as a public health intervention." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake