Pubdate: Tue, 24 May 2011 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: George Stepanenko Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n301/a03.html PERCEPTIONS OF INSITE AND ITS INJECTION SITE VARY Your editorial regarding Insite and the Harper government's desire to see it dead was a welcome and lucid commentary on the situation. However, the characterization of Harper's stand as ideological deflects us from a fundamental point. When voters returned Harper to Ottawa with a majority in putative pursuit of "stability," they chose to overlook Harper's most egregious character flaw: An obsession with power. I do not recognize any rational political ideology at work in a government that wilfully ignores evidence of saved money and saved lives, ignores the pleas and advice of respected proponents of Insite, ignores the Canadian ethos in respect to how we treat our most vulnerable citizens. If there is an ideology behind this attitude, it is borrowed from some other continent, some alien belief system. There is a lot more at stake here than legal arguments and "ideology." It is about power. In the documentary film, Grass, viewers are treated to a clip featuring the elder Bush responding to a question about ramping up the "war" on cannabis. Faced with evidence that the plant is in no way similar to hard drugs and causes little harm, and asked to explain his government's decision, Bush ultimately came up with: "Because I said so." Sadly, that is the level to which I see the current prime minister of Canada aspiring. George Stepanenko Sechelt - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.