Safe Injection Sites Are A Priority!

I was very impressed by Bernice Levitz Packford's article from the Victoria Time-Colonist from Sunday, Feb 10th. She talks about a medical condition for which she was prescribed and took morphine. Doing that opened her eyes to the plight of heroin addicts. She reported that a May 2007 study by the "Centre for Addiction Research of B.C...recommended three smaller supervised injection sites be created in Victoria." This is a recommendation supported by the "Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe and city council, Health Minister George Abbott, B.C. Medical Health Officer Richard Stanwick, and Victoria Police Deputy Chief Bill Naughton." They are prevented from doing so, however, because Prime Minister "Stephen Harper and federal Health Minister Tony Clement must grant an exemption to the Controlled Drug and Substances Act,""Victoria Times-Colonist" which they refuse to do.
The Vancouver Safe Injection Site (known as Insite) has been very successful in a number of harm reduction areas. Take a minute to read the "Research Results" page of a study by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS of the InSite program. Included is an impressive list of these positive effects, which are collected from various prestigious sources. I have included the link below. To summarize, this program (started under the Federal Liberals) has been a resounding success in helping to save lives. Period. I think the research result that impressed me the most was "Insite is attracting the highest-risk users – those more likely to be vulnerable to HIV infection and overdose, and who were contributing to problems of public drug use and unsafe syringe disposal. (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)." So by blocking this program, Mr. Harper is showing that his party's priorities do not lie with saving the lives of the most vulnerable in our society--the addicted. He is preventing the blockage of the spread of HIV.
So what could possibly be stopping Mr. Harper. In an article from canada.com on December 5, 2005 Harper was quoted as saying "Our values are under attack," he(Harper) told reporters, adding that ensuring a peaceful and safe society is "a value that none of the other parties seem to care about." Interesting. However, in the case of Vancouver's InSite, "rates of arrest for drug trafficking, assaults and robbery were similar after the facility’s opening, and rates of vehicle break-ins/theft declined significantly. (Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy.)" So this program has actually DECREASED the rates of crime. Doesn't that help ensure that "peaceful and safe" society you said you were devoted to, Mr Harper? In the same 2005 article, when asked about safe-injection sites, Mr. Harper spouted the standard ridiculous Conservative rationale: "We as a government will not use taxpayers' money to fund drug use.""Canada.com" As if giving junkies a safe, AIDS-free place to shoot-up was gonna INCREASE the rate of drug use? I gotta try that heroin now that there is a safe place to shoot it. What kind of ridiculous, backwards thinking is that?
Again, Mr. Harper is proven wrong by the facts. The New England Journal of Medicine said that InSite "is leading to increased uptake into detoxification programs and addiction treatment.""Research Results-InSite" So, once again, Mr. Harper's thinking is not just supported by the facts. In fact, it is proven to be completely backwards. Safe-injection sites support drug cessation, not drug use. When you look at commentary like, "By all criteria, the Vancouver facility has both saved lives and contributed toward the decreased use of illicit drugs and the reduced spread of HIV infection and other blood-borne infections,"(says) Mark Wainberg, the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal,""cbc.ca" how can the Harper government even consider not supporting it? I say, you can brand this administration accessories to murder if they do not allow safe injection sites. Murder, in the cruelest way possible in fact, because all signs point to how beneficial this program is. Harper knows he can help, yet chooses not to. Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder "Who voted for this guy?" A Demain, Nation.