Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jun 2011 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: C. Gwendolyn Landolt, President, Drug Prevention Network of Canada, Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n350/a07.html INSITE NOT THE ANSWER FOR ADDICTS Re: It Works, Thomas Kerr, May 30. Thomas Kerr is not an objective observer of the Insite clinic in Vancouver, as he used to be a lobbyist for the facility. Due to this conflict of interest, it is not surprising that he and his team have published over two dozen positive studies about the facility. These studies have been peer reviewed only by those who support harm reduction, which presupposes that addicts will not stop using drugs. They have also refused to release their data so that other researchers can verify their results. Mr. Kerr tried to discredit a report from the B.C. government -which stated that since the site opened, the area has seen an increase in drug-induced deaths every year -by claiming that it included deaths unrelated to drug use. Yet, the report definitively states that all the deaths were from drug overdoses. Two dozen major European cities have also experimented with injection sites. They signed a declaration in 1994 opposing them and calling for them to be banned because of the problems they caused. Treatment is the only solution to drug addiction. Addicts are human beings who deserve better than a drug-injection site, which only leads to an early and horrific death. C. Gwendolyn Landolt, president, Drug Prevention Network of Canada, Richmond Hill, Ont. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.