A life by any other name

Health Minister Tony Clement wants Canada's only safe drug injection site -- in a clinic on Vancouver's tough Lower Eastside -- shut down. Last week, he announced his intention of asking Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to appeal the recent B.C. Supreme Court decision to keep Insite open for another year, giving Ottawa time to revamp drug laws to exempt the clinic. The B.C. Court says the law applied to Insite is unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The health minister mirrors Nancy Reagan's drug mantra, "Just say no." Meanwhile, scientists, medical professionals and social workers, who deal with the raw reality of the already addicted, fight to educate the public about the benefits of a safe injection site in providing counseling, preventing overdoses and stopping the spread of infectious diseases. Toronto is now investigating the possibility of opening its own injection clinic.

Clement rejects it all. "The evidence is that Insite's injection program saves at least one life per year. A precious life, yes. I believe we can do better and we must," Clement told the Commons health committee. He argued his job is to balance that one life against a life potentially lost because of the injection site -- without explaining how Insite might take a life.

It's difficult to imagine Clement making the same argument about a program operating within a different strata of Canadian society. Rather, it sounds like he's saying: "A precious life -- not so much."

Comments

[koby]

1 Life?

According to Vancouver Sun's Barbara Yaffe, http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=3e9e51d6-dab6-42f2-b9d0-24f00f28872a "In the past year, 222 users have overdosed and received immediate intervention at Insite. ... In the past year 3,862 addicts received first aid and medical care"

[chris]

I can't do better than this.
Welcome to the blogosphere.

[Anna]

Koby, I like a lot of Ms Yaffe's article, especially this part:

In his decision, Justice Ian Pitfield echoed the community consensus about Insite: "While there is nothing to be said in favour of the injection of controlled substances that leads to addiction, there is much to be said against denying addicts health care services that will ameliorate the effects of their condition."

So true.

I wonder why the need to make this a West-vs-Quebec thing, though.

[chris]

HTML? Wassat?
"this"
http://tinyurl.com/3qqrms

[koby]

Tony Clement is apparently open to the idea Quebec setting up a safe injection site.

"Health Minister Tony Clement says his government will not necessarily oppose safe-injection sites for illegal drugs in Quebec even though it will appeal a court decision allowing a similar facility in British Columbia……”I am obligated to consider each situation as a unique situation. That’s my obligation as the Minister of Health.”

It is as if Harper and company have forgotten what launched the Federal Reform Party in BC. Insite is Vancouver’s pet project and so as it is the Conservative’s risk shutting it down at their own peril, but shutting down Insite while allowing a safe injection site to be set up in Montreal would create a huge political storm in BC. When Liberal Senator Larry Campbell ran on implementing a new approach to drug addiction, not only did he win the race for mayor everyone that ran on the Cope ticket, whether it be for parks board or school board or council, also won. Every single one. However small Insite is it symbolizes something much bigger, viz.,a huge appetite for doing drug policy different here. Everyone who is anyone in BC is behind this. I can see the headlines now. I can guarantee if Conservatives treat the two cases differently, Conservative support in the Lowermainland will drop 5% to 10% overnight. There is nothing that goes over worse in BC than saying that Quebec deserves to be treated differently.