IN THE NEWS

RCMP takes a swipe at B.C. injection site
Mounties say Insite's lower risk encourages drug use
Peter O'Neil           
Vancouver Sun          

Monday, December 11, 2006
OTTAWA -- The RCMP, which has publicly taken a neutral position on Vancouver's Supervised Injection Site for drug addicts, has produced an internal report harshly critical of the pilot project.

The three-page analysis, obtained by The Vancouver Sun, suggests that the "harm reduction" approach -- helping addicts avoid overdosing or contracting HIV-AIDS -- actually encourages drug use.

''The RCMP has concerns regarding any initiative that lowers the perceived risks associated with drug use," states Staff-Sgt. C.D. (Chuck) Doucette, Pacific Region co-ordinator of the RCMP's Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness program.

''There is considerable evidence to show that, when the perceived risks associated to drug use decreases, there is a corresponding increase in number of people using drugs."

Doucette's July 24, 2006 analysis, obtained through the Access to Information Act, was produced during the summer as Prime Minister Stephen Harper came under growing pressure to support Insite.

Harper, whose government is now planning a get-tough national drug strategy, voiced skepticism about the site that opened on a trial basis in late 2003. His government agreed in September only to extend the project's licence only until December of 2007. Health Canada, the B.C. government, the City of Vancouver, and the Vancouver City Police all endorsed a three-year extension.

Harper, who said he would rely partly on the advice of the RCMP, also cut off federal research money for the site, even though Health Minister Tony Clement said the government wants more studies to be conducted to determine if the site is a success.

Dr. Thomas Kerr, one of the authors of a recent report on the Vancouver facility, reviewed the Mountie report and said he finds it ''frightening" that the Harper government is relying on such analysis.

Kerr, a research scientist at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, said Doucette made numerous errors and lacks credibility.

''I really wish that Chuck Doucette and the RCMP would take a similar position as the Vancouver Police Department, which is to support a rigorous scientific evaluation of the facility before making comment, and to really leave that type of evaluation activity with qualified scientists," said Kerr, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Medicine.

RCMP Superintendent Paul Nadeau, who had been previously based in Vancouver and visited Insite two months ago, said he hasn't read the report but agrees in general with Doucette's position.

The RCMP, Nadeau said, is ''neutral" on Insite because it is located in the Vancouver City Police's jurisdiction.
But the Mounties support the Harper government's decision not to expand the pilot project to other cities.
''I went for a walk through the East End of Vancouver and I don't see much of an improvement," said Nadeau, director of the drug branch at RCMP headquarters.

Doucette said overdose deaths in Vancouver increased from 2004 to 2005, despite a corresponding decrease in the rest of the province.

He also said there's ''no evidence" to show that Insite users are going to drug treatment, and said there has been no decrease in public drug use in the area around the facility.

The police officer argues in favour of more investment in drug prevention programs.
Kerr, however, said peer-reviewed and published scientific studies have shown that Insite users are going into detox facilities and that drug use in the area has been reduced.

He sharply disagreed with the police officer's view that a decrease in overdose and HIV risk encourages drug use.
''We showed actually that binge drug use went down" in a report published in the British Medical Journal.
He also noted that there have been no overdose deaths at Insite, and said the increase in deaths from 2005 over 2004 may have been caused by higher death rates for crystal meth users, who mostly don't inject.