Pubdate: Fri, 30 May 2008
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Authors: Meagan Fitzpatrick and Melissa Leong, Canwest News Service 
and National Post
Referenced: The ruling http://drugsense.org/url/IoeOUnAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

OTTAWA TO APPEAL COURT RULING ON SAFE-INJECTION SITE

'Supervised Injection Is Not Medicine,' Health Minister Says

OTTAWA - Federal Health Minister Tony Clement said yesterday Ottawa 
will appeal the B. C. Supreme Court decision earlier this week that 
ruled in favour of Vancouver's controversial supervised injection site.

Appearing before the House of Commons health committee, Mr. Clement 
said scientific evidence in support of Insite is not strong enough 
and that supervised injection sites prolong addiction and divert 
dollars away from treatment programs.

"For these reasons, fellow committee members, I can inform you today 
that I will be asking my colleague, Rob Nicholson, the Minister of 
Justice, to appeal Judge Pitfield's decision at the earliest possible 
opportunity," Mr. Clement said.

Justice Ian Pitfield's surprising decision said Canada's trafficking 
and possession laws were unconstitutional when applied to addicts 
using the facility, and that it should be allowed to remain open 
under current drug laws for a year, even without a federal exemption 
from current drug laws.

That year should give the federal government time to rewrite its laws 
to allow for medical use of illegal drugs if they are part of a 
health-care program, he said.

The current exemption from federal drug laws is set to expire June 30 
and the government has not yet indicated whether it will be extended.

Mr. Clement and a panel of witnesses appeared before the committee 
for a lengthy meeting.

Dr. Donald Hedges, a physician in New Westminster, B. C., said he 
declined to appear by video at the committee because he wanted to 
avoid harassment and intimidation for his opposition to Insite, North 
American's only sanctioned safe-injection site.

On Tuesday, protesters picketed outside of his office building and 
handed out leaflets blasting Dr. Hedges's "narrow world-view."

"Vile and vulgar things were said about me to people coming into the 
office," he said.

"This is because I voiced an opinion. That's not democracy, which 
requires robust exchange of all sorts of opinion. It's bullying."

Dr. Hedges, an expert in addiction medicine for the past 18 years, 
said he has treated more than 8,000 patients and believes addiction 
responds best to comprehensive abstinence-based treatment.

The accepted standard of care for "relatively privileged citizens" 
includes: detoxification, intensive treatment, counselling and 
abstinence-based recovery support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, he said.

"Why do the people in Vancouver's Downtown East Side deserve less?" 
he wrote in a statement delivered to the committee.

"Health care funding is a zero-sum game -- $3-million per year for 
Insite means $3-million less for detox and treatment facilities."

Liz Evans, executive director of the PHS Community Services Society 
which manages the Vancouver injection site, told the health committee 
that harm reduction is an integral part of a successful drug strategy.

"As much as we might want to force everybody into treatment tomorrow, 
there are marginalized Canadians who are not ready for treatment," 
she said after the meeting. "In the meantime, we have to connect with them.

"The way to engage them is through services that are willing to 
address the reality of where they are at now by giving them some 
dignity, a sense of place and a sense of membership."

Mr. Clement, however, made it clear yesterday that his government 
does not like the idea of Insite.

"In my opinion, supervised injection is not medicine -- it does not 
heal the person addicted to drugs," he said.

The Tory drug strategy does not include specific harm-reduction 
programs because they are included within the government's 
three-pronged approach, the Health Minister said.

"We see harm reduction as being represented within the other three 
pillars of enforcement, prevention and treatment," Mr. Clement said.

The Health Minister suggested while the research indicates Insite 
saves one life a year, the $3-million it costs to operate could help 
hundreds of people if spent on other programs, such as 
addiction-treatment centres. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake