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Health Minister: Safe-Injection Sites a "Surrender to a Culture of Disease and Death."

By Tim Waggoner

Montreal, August 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - During Monday's Canadian Medical Association annual meeting, federal Health Minister Tony Clement attacked those medical professionals who support facilities providing supervised injections of illegal drugs.

"I find the ethical considerations of supervised injections to be profoundly disturbing," Mr. Clement said.

"The supervised injection site undercuts the ethic of medical practice and sets a debilitating example for all physicians and nurses, both present and future in Canada, who might begin to question whether it's all right to allow someone to overdose under their care.

"Is it ethical for health-care professionals to support the distribution of drugs that are of unknown substance, or purity, or potency - drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed? If this were done in a doctor's office the provincial college [of physicians] would rightly be investigating," he said.

Some doctors and activists argue that safe-injection sites curb the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing users with a clean environment and fresh needles, and actually aid addiction prevention by putting drug addicts in contact with professional health care workers.

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett responded to Clement's remarks, saying that most public health departments across Canada want safe-injection sites.

"We know that if people have a safe place that they can talk to people, that they eventually will come off drugs, they eventually will get help and that they don't die," Bennett said.

"This guy (Clement) is insulting physicians and the nurses that are working hard in the trenches of helping people get off drugs."

Clement also called statements by the CMA advocating safe-injection sites "dangerously misleading" and said Vancouver's injection facility Insite - the only such site in North America - represents a "slippery slope."

"Already there are people saying injection sites are not enough, that government should give out heroin for free. Others are now calling for 'inhalation rooms' for people who smoke their drugs," Mr. Clement said.

The health minister said Insite does not offer "health care for the living" but "palliative care for the dying. Insite offers no hope. It is a surrender to a culture of disease and death."

Mr. Clement suggested that Insite's $3-million budget would be better spent to help treat drug addictions and to provide more housing.

Following Tony Clement's remarks, the Canada Family Action Coalition thanked the Health Minister for resisting pressures to support programs that aid people in using illegal drugs.

A CFAC press release addressed the Conservative Government's appeal of the BC Supreme Court ruling that said certain Canadian drug laws were unconstitutional because they prevented places like Insight from operating.

"The appeal of the foolhardy court ruling for an 'indefinite drug law exemption' for Insite is a must. The government's appeal and continued efforts to stop using tax money to keep addicts is the right, responsible, and compassionate approach," said CFAC.

"It is unbelievable that any helping professional could support the idea of keeping addicts addicts. This is not ethical nor is it compassionate", added Brian Rushfeldt , Executive Director of CFAC and a former addictions counselor.

"Don't the addicts deserve an opportunity to become healthy and productive citizens ?"

To communicate support to Mr. Clement:

The Honourable Tony Clement, P.C., M.P.
Health Canada
Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney's Pasture
Postal Locator: 0906C
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9

Email:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/home-accueil/contact/minist-eng.php

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