A Small But Hard Won Victory Over Harper

It's bittersweet at best.  Health Canada has issued an exemption to Vancouver's Insite, the city's clean needle injection site.  That's not to say the battle is over. Despite the clear ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Harper regime has put Insite on a year-to-year exemption meaning the Vancouver authorities will have to run the regulatory gauntlet every year.

Vancouver Coastal Health is required to apply for an annual exemption to operate Insite.

"We know Insite works," says Coastal Health chief medical health officer Dr. Patricia Daly, in a written statement.

"Thousands of overdose deaths have been prevented, the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C have been reduced, and clients can more easily connect to health services like detox and primary health care," she says.

The Harper regime this week passed the Orwellian named Bill C-2, The Respect for Communities Act,  which is a vehicle to heap layers of federal disrespect on communities like Vancouver.

Daly said the new legislation will make the process of applying for an exemption more onerous, requiring volumes of information to meet 27 conditions.

"VCH is troubled by the numerous conditions set out in the new legislation," she said.

Donald MacPherson, spokesman for the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, said he believes the government purposely created Bill C-2 to discourage new sites from opening

"Supervised consumption sites are a response to a very dire situation," he said.

Update:  Alison, of Creekside, sent along a link to a 2010 Paul Wells article from Maclean's that I hadn't read.  This post needs to be considered in light of that article from 5-years ago.  It's proof positive of the malevolent character of this Harper government and the partisan political role the RCMP plays in it.  Thank you, Alison.

Also check out Troy's comment.  Troy, a very eloquent, British Columbia First Nation, has known the streets of East Vancouver.  This disgrace churns in him.

Supreme Court of Canada Backs Insite

Vancouver's safe injection site has been saved from Harper's attempts to shut it down.   The Supreme Court of Canada has held that not allowing the clinic to operate would violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Court stopped short of ruling the government must approve other applications for safe injection clinics, holding that where there is no evidence that a supervised injection site would have a negative impact on public safety, the minister "should generally grant an exemption."

Need More Reason to Dump Harper? Ask the Brits

One of the top medical journals, Britain's The Lancet, has published a resounding endorsement of Vancouver's Insite, safe injection centre.  Harper despises Insite and has been trying to get it shut down.  It is an affront to his darkest ideology.  So far the British Columbia courts have been holding the tyrant at bay.   Now, according to Reuters,  they'll have even more reason to send Harper's minions packing:

North America's only sanctioned facility for injection of illegal drugs has cut overdose deaths and should be used as a model in other cities, according to a study published on Monday in the Lancet medical journal.

The study came as Canada's highest court prepared to hear a lawsuit over the federal government's attempt to close down the Insite facility in Vancouver despite calls by local health officials and police to keep it open.

 Insite's critics say it promotes illegal drug use, and the federal government has said it wants to shut down the facility now that the medical trial period has ended. The United States has urged Canada to shut down the facility.

Two courts have blocked the government's efforts, ruling Insite needs to remain open as a needed medical service. Ottawa has appealed those rulings to the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear the case in May.

A commentary in Lancet accompanying the study's results said they demonstrated the facility's success and why additional sites should be opened across Canada.

"Supervised injection facilities clearly have an important part to play in communities affected by injection drug use," wrote Dr. Chris Chris Beyrer, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. 

Canadians Support Insite - Sort Of

An Angus Reid online survey has found Canadians support the Insite safe-injection programme by a margin of 38% to 23% with the remainder undecided.

The Tories, however, seem to have done their job in convincing a lot of folks that Insite actually provides drugs to addicts. Fully 19% of those polled by Angus Reid believe this nonsense.

In BC and Alberta, Insite's support numbers are better than 50%. It seems we're less apt to swallow that "drug pushing" drivel pumped out by the right.

https://www.angusreidforum.com/MediaServer/3/documents/2008%2008%2020_Insite_ARF.pdf

Tony Clement Scolds Doctors' Ethics. Maybe He Wishes He Had Some.

Harper Uber-Weasel, HealthMin Tony Clement, has castigated Canadian doctors for supporting safe-injection facilities such as Vancouver's Insite. According to The Globe & Mail, Tony tried a new tack:

"Is it ethical for health-care professionals to support the administration of drugs that are of unknown substance, or purity or potency, drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed?" Mr. Clement said.

Clement's mush-mouthed sophistry is, as always, over the top. No one supports "the administration of drugs." What the medical profession supports is the provision of clean needles and a safe place for addicts to use under supervision, a site that also offers counselling for those wanting to end their drug habits. As Clement knows this isn't about the administration of drugs. Close Insite and those very drugs will still be bought and sold and administered only in back alleys with shared needles that create an enormous health problem for the entire community.

CMA president Dr. Brian Day wasted no time kicking Clement to the curb where his type belongs.

"Dr. Brian Day said sites that allow addicts to inject their own narcotics under the supervision of medical staff have been successful in curbing illegal drug use and slowing the spread of disease.

"We specifically take issue with the minister using that phrase," Dr. Day told reporters after Mr. Clement's speech.

"The minister was off base in calling into question the ethics of physicians involved in harm reduction.

"It's clear that this was being used as a political issue."

Clement, reaching even lower, then criticized Insite as ineffective, because most narcotics are still used in "back alleys and seedy motels." Wait a minute. Insite isn't effective because it isn't big enough to reach more addicts? So let's shut it down? Hey Nimrod, if that's your concern - reaching more addicts - why don't you simply fund more clinics?

The man is a total moral reptile.

Tony Clement - All-Canadian Embarrassment

Tony Clement, just another one of Harper's subprime ministers, has done it again.

Ignoring reality altogether, this jackass showed up yesterday in Mexico City to repeat the groundless and disproven claim that safe-injection clinics aren't a mode of harm reduction but, in fact, a form of "harm addition." Even the term he coined is - well, it's stupid.

Now here's the kicker. From The Globe & Mail:

"While the minister's views on Insite are well known, Mr. Clement repeated them Tuesday at an event where he was endorsing and promoting a new WHO “how-to” guide on battling the epidemic, which promotes needle exchange and safe injection sites. The Health Minister's comments left officials from the agency flummoxed and red-faced.

"Teguest Guerma, associate director of the HIV-AIDS department at the WHO, who was clearly uncomfortable about the exchange between the minister and reporters about the apparent contradiction in Canada's position, would only say: “The WHO supports harm reduction.”'

"Apparent contradiction?" C'mon, really, this is a stooge minister from Canada's first-ever, red-meat, neo-con federal government. The very notion of hypocrisy and contradiction never made it into their playbook.

Besides Subprime Tony is, as the name suggests, subprime - a dull and awkward little creature given to babbling nonsensically but always ready to parrot the official line no matter how stupid.

Victoria to Fight Ottawa Over Insite?

The BC government has warned it may intervene to keep the Harper government from shutting Vancouver's safe injection clinic, Insite.

Last week a BC Supreme Court judge, Ian Pitfield, ruled that Insite is a health care facility for drug addicts and, as such, can stay open despite the wacko fundamentalist views of the Harpies. The Cons have announced they'll appeal that decision so they can shut down the clinic.

This is an issue that puts Harper squarely at odds with the people and government of British Columbia. The safe injection clinic where addicts are given clean needles and a place to use them under limited medical supervision is strongly supported in this province in part because it's also the one place where addicts can get counselling and access to rehabilitation programmes.

BC Health Minister George Abbott was unequivocal in expressing his government's support for Insite. "It is a very important case involving a health facility we believe is important in the continuum of care for people with addictions and for people with mental illness." Abbott suggested that what British Columbia needs isn't the end of Insite but more such clinics.

Most of this province isn't keen on Harper's social conservative ways, especially not in major population centres. BC is also more tolerant of drug use than other provinces which is reflected in relatively light sentencing in criminal cases.

But, if the Furious Leader wants a fight on this issue, he couldn't have picked a better place for it in my view. If he wants a fight, a fight he'll get and, next time, all the cameras will be on Lardo. He may suddenly find that he's the one who's really on trial out here. Welcome to Beautiful British Columbia, Steve, c'mon in!