Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jun 2008
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: James Hayward

THE FACTS SHOW INSITE IS WORKING

When I first heard of Insite a few years ago, I was skeptical, so I
did what any rational person should do and went to learn more.

I read the national and international studies on the injection site
and was pleasantly surprised to see that they all concluded that the
site was a good thing.

I've kept up with the studies, and can now happily report that they
all conclude that Insite has had an almost universally positive
impact. Discarded needles are down, public injections are down,
transmission of blood-borne illnesses are down, and much more.

The reduction in disease transmission alone justifies the existence of
the site, as illnesses like AIDS and hepatitis can cost the
health-care system millions to treat.

For those who claim that Insite is helping enable addiction, I refer
you to the studies that have universally shown that more users are
entering rehab and addiction counselling through Insite than control
groups, who don't use Insite. In other words, Insite's services (which
include help accessing detox and counselling) are actually helping
people quit.

Insite's opponents should put aside their moralistic superiority and
admit that Insite is helping people in every way, including getting
them off drugs, and it's actually saving the health-care system money
- -- saving them money in taxes.

Those are the facts, according to the hundreds of scientists and
dozens of published studies about the site.

James Hayward

Victoria
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin