Pubdate: Tue, 05 Apr 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Duffy
Page: A3

'A WAY TO REDUCE SOME HARM,' EX-RCMP BOSS SAYS

Former RCMP commissioner Norman Inkster has thrown his support behind 
the drive to establish more safe injection sites in Canada, arguing 
the supervised consumption of illegal drugs is better for addicts and 
the neighbourhoods in which they live.

"For me, this is a way to reduce some harm by getting it off the 
street," Inkster told Postmedia in an interview. "We're reducing some 
harm with a problem that seems to be intractable."

Inkster, 77, spent seven years as leader of Canada's national police 
force and two years as president of the international police agency 
Interpol. He retired as commissioner in June 1994 after a 37-year 
RCMP career, and launched himself into business and consulting. Among 
other things, he now serves on the board of directors of Mettrum 
Health Corp., a medical marijuana company.

Inkster said evidence shows that safe injection sites can reduce the 
number of addicts using and discarding needles in public.

"So if we can get people off the street when they're injecting drugs, 
if we can stop them from sharing needles and spreading disease, if we 
can prevent our children and grandchildren from stepping on used 
needles in public parks and alleys, then that's good," Inkster argued.

The harm-reduction approach, he said, can make streets safer while 
keeping addicts alive long enough to deal with their addictions.

"The real bonus is that health professionals get access to users, and 
through that access, maybe, just maybe, we can convince a few to take 
the treatment and get off drugs."

Inkster's unexpected endorsement comes as health agencies in six 
cities, including Ottawa and Toronto, seek government support to open 
safe injection sites.

His comments stand in contrast to the opinions of other police 
leaders, who have warned that such facilities will attract crime and 
undermine enforcement efforts.

Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau has dismissed a proposed safe 
injection site as "undesirable," and his predecessor Vern White once 
warned that such a facility would have "an extreme, negative impact" 
on nearby residents.

Inkster said his views have been shaped by Vancouver's experience 
with the safe injection site, Insite, in operation since 2003.

"They anticipated all of the problems that others anticipated ... but 
that has not been borne out," he said. "Local crime around these 
sites actually went down, although not much, but it went down. And 
there were fewer people dying from overdoses."

Inkster said the harm-reduction approach makes sense given that the 
war on drugs hasn't been successful at curbing drug use.

"During my experience in the RCMP, it just seemed that no matter how 
many resources we put into trying to interdict drugs, we didn't seem 
to stem the flow of drugs in any way, shape or form. Nor were we 
particularly successful in stopping people from using drugs," he said.

Inkster's position on supervised injection sites was once 
unimaginable inside senior ranks of the RCMP, which stridently 
opposed Vancouver's safe injection for years. Ten years ago, when 
researchers began to publish studies that gave Insite positive 
reviews, the national police force funnelled taxpayer money to two 
handpicked academics, both of whom produced critical reports.

In 2008, the scheme to discredit the safe injection site was exposed 
by a Vancouver human rights group, the Pivot Legal Society.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom