It is a good progam so he needs to leve it be!!
http://www.scandalpedia.ca/Scandals/InSite_en.html
Clement and Insite
In September 2003, the former Liberal government granted the Vancouver Costal Health Authority (VCHA) an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to launch a supervised injection site pilot research project known as Insite. It also provided $1.5 million to support the evaluation of the three-year pilot project.
Tony Clement, Tony Clement, Minister of Health (Source: pm.gc.ca)
After one year of operation, on September 28, 2004, an initial assessment on the impact of Insite was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The data revealed that:
* no fatalities had occurred in the facility,
* a large number of referrals were made to addiction counseling and withdrawal services by site counselors; and,
* the facility had been well managed and the staff was highly rated by the clients.
Since then, more research has shown Insite has decreased the incidence of drug paraphernalia on public streets, decreased the practice of sharing dirty needles, helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C among drug users, and increased the rate of addicts seeking rehabilitation and counseling services [1].
In the weeks leading up to the December 31st 2006 deadline to renew the funding and conditions to keep the site open, Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement stated that there had been no evidence to suggest that the site did in fact serve its intended purpose [2].
There was an immediate backlash against these remarks from the City of Vancouver and advocates of the program from across the country. Minister Clement responded by announcing on September 1, 2006 that he would defer the closure of the site until December 31, 2007 (in spite of recommendations from Health Canada bureaucrats that Insite receive a three-and-a-half year extension.) As well, the Minister provided no additional funding to assist the operation of the site.
In October 2007, the Conservative government announced a $63.8-million National Anti-Drug Strategy over two years which focused on enforcement, treatment and prevention, and had no harm-reduction measures to help limit the spread of infectious disease.
The Conservative view of Insite faced another challenge when, on May 27th, 2008, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that federal laws making possession of illegal drugs in a safe injection site an offence were unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court ordered the federal government to rewrite the laws so that secure injection facilities such as Insite were exempt. On May 29th, 2008, Minister Clement told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, “I can inform you today that I will be asking my colleague Rob Nicholson, the Minister of Justice, to appeal Justice Pitfield's decision at the earliest possible opportunity.”
At the 2008 AIDS Conference in Mexico, Minister Clement referred to harm reduction programs as “harm addition” [3]. During a scrum at the same conference, Mr. Clement was videotaped during a scrum in which he called Insite “an abomination.”
In a speech to the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) general council meeting in Montreal in August 2008, Mr. Clement attacked the CMA for supporting Insite, Canada’s only safe injection site. Mr. Clement questioned the ethics of doctors and nurses, “Is it unethical 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?” [4]
Stephen Harper Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association, responded to Mr. Clement by saying 79 per cent of members agree that the injection sites work because they advocate harm reduction. Dr. Gabor Mate said “The repugnant aspect is his attack on the morality and ethics of human beings who are trying to work with a very difficult population." and “Where does he appoint himself as a moral judge of professionals who he doesn't understand and knows nothing about?” [5]
The Conservatives have made no secret about favouring a “get tough on crime” approach over on harm reduction strategies. Stephen Harper campaigned on a promise to shut down Insite in order to divert more funds to law enforcement and jail services. As he said on the campaign trail: "We as a government will not use taxpayers' money to fund drug use…That is not the strategy we will pursue." [6]
References
[1] http://www.communityinsite.ca/science.html
[2] Harper must start rethinking his anti-drug policy: SAFE-INJECTION SITE: PM's correct choice is to OK facility's ongoing operation, The Province, August 6, 2006
[3] Ottawa Reoffends at AIDS Summit, Toronto Star, August 9, 2008
[4] Doctors denounce Clement for assailing B.C.'s safe-injection site, Canwest News Service, Monday, August 18, 2008; www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/minist/speeches-discours/2008_08_18-eng.php
[5] B.C. doctor calls Clement's Insite comments 'repugnant', The Globe and Mail. August 20, 2008 ; Speech, CMA general council meeting, August 18, 2008
[6] Victoria needs a little Insite: Harper's hardline approach to drugs threatens to kill safe-injection site in Vancouver, Times Colonist (Victoria), February 17, 2006
