No more safe injection sites.

No new safe injection sites for addicts will be allowed in Canada until questions raised by "initial research" is answered, Health Minister Tony Clement announced. Insite in Vancouver, the one safe inject facility permitted in North America, will close shortly. (The research source was not indicated.)

"Do safe injection sites contribute to lowering drug use and fighting addiction? Right now the only thing the research to date has proven conclusively is drug addicts need more help to get off drugs," Minister Clement says. "Given the need for more facts, I am unable to approve the current request to extend the Vancouver site for another three and a half years."

"Health professionals from around the world have studied Insite and unequivocally said that it is a success," said Joanne Csete, Executive Director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. "Minister Clement is asking questions that have already been answered. He's stalling. The question is why?"

Clement deferred the decision on the Vancouver application to December 31st, 2007, during which time additional studies will be conducted into how supervised injection sites affect crime, prevention and treatment.

The Minister noted federal government-including the Health, Justice and Public Safety Department along with the Canadian Centre for substance abuse will launch a new National Drug Strategy, "which will put greater emphasis on pro grams that reduce drug and alcohol abuse."

Clement's announcement came a few hours after the Canadian Police Association asked the minister to withhold approval for any new safe drug injection sites.

The CPA wants a National Drug Strategy that incorporates programs to reduce the drug use by limiting both the supply and demand for illicit drugs, enabling an integrated approach to education, prevention and treatment.

The CPA claims that in Vancouver, drug overdose deaths have increased even though rates have decreased elsewhere in British Columbia. "The supervised injection site program has had no impact on reducing public disorder and has, in fact, created a safe haven for traffickers and fosters a sense of entitlement among drug users."

Insite (as reported in the August issue of Community Action), was reviewed recently by Dr. Ernest Drucker of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Drucker reported that the Insite project saved $5 to $8 million in health and criminal costs. Positive reports have also appeared in Canadian, British and American medical journals, including the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. Perry Kendal, B.C.s Medical Health Officer, also backs the clinic.

Health Canada will not accept any applications for the establishment of additional injection sites in other parts of Canada until the NDS is in place, and the Vancouver review is completed.

"Insite is saving people's lives, reducing HIV and hepatitis transmission and steering people to treatment for their addictions," said Kevin Barlow, Executive Director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. "The facts speak for themselves, but the federal government isn't listening."

Insite is operated by the Portland Hotel Society and has the endorsement of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority which provides part of the funding. Financial support has come from the city, the province and the federal government.