SEx, Lies & Injection Sites

HERE IS RAW POLITICS.

TOTAL SPIN AND FABRICATIONS.

WHAT IS WORSE IS THAT

ITS AUTHORS ACTUALLY

BELIEVE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING.

THE TRUTH IS THAT

THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT THIS

DISASTER THAT "WORKS."

AND DEMONIZING THE PRIME MINISTER WON'T CHANGE THAT.



Vancouver's supervised injection site celebrates fifth anniversary

Cheryl Chan The Province

Sunday, September 21, 2008

When Insite, North America's first supervised drug-injection site marks its fifth anniversary in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Sunday, the celebration will be tempered with disappointment.

Despite research that shows Insite works, the federal government has refused to support it, say members of PHS Community Services, which runs the facility along with Vancouver Coastal Health.

"Old arguments against Insite just don't stand up against real research," executive director Liz Evans told The Province. "It's time to accept that supervised-injection sites are a necessary part of the comprehensive plan needed to seriously address drug addiction." "It's time for Stephen Harper to listen to the evidence and put public health before politics," said Mark Townsend, Evans' partner and a fellow PHS executive.

Insite has been the subject of more than 30 peer-reviewed studies and several government-commissioned reports that show it has a positive impact in the community, has taken more than a million injections off city streets, has intervened in more than 850 overdoses, has reduced transmission of HIV and hepatitis C and does not attract new drug users. Townsend said it is "disappointing" to be constantly fighting the battle against Ottawa, despite support from the municipal and provincial governments and nearly 80 per cent of doctors in the Canadian Medical Association. "The sad part of it is, there's lots more to do," said Townsend. "We've opened detox beds, we're trying to establish therapeutic [services] with horse therapy. We run a dental clinic and a medical clinic, but our time gets sucked up trying to keep [Insite] on the table." In addition to Insite, PHS Community Services also operates Onsite's 12 detox beds, several transitional beds for patients waiting to get into a long-term treatment facility and a raft of other services in the Downtown Eastside. PHS has assets of $12 million and revenues of almost $11 million a year. Insite, which sees about 600 to 1,100 users daily, has operated in the Downtown Eastside since 2003 under an exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The permit had already been extended twice when in May, the B.C. Supreme Court granted it a constitutional exemption. The federal government is appealing the decision, with the case scheduled to be heard in April 2009. Meanwhile, federal candidates on the campaign trail have offered words of support. The Liberals have promised to renew Insite's federal licence as part of their made-in-B.C. platform. Green Party leader Elizabeth May has also pledged support. Townsend said it shouldn't matter who is in power. "We don't see it as a political issue," he said. "No matter who's in power, you need to know a health issue like this isn't politically interfered with." Invited speakers at tomorrow's news conference include Dr. Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, and Prof. Neil Boyd of Simon Fraser University.