Harper Conservatives hate art AND science

Marking the 5th anniversary of Insite, Vancouver's safe drug injection site, doctors and researchers got up in Harper's grill.  You know, those people whom Tony Clement called unethical. 

Thomas Kerr of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS said 30 peer-reviewed scientific studies have proven Insite is working, putting more people into detox programs and reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS,

But the government is ignoring the evidence, he said.

"Much like the Bush administration and its treatment of science related to environmental protection, the Harper government has clung to ideology and engaged in a real war on science in this country," Kerr said.

30 peer reviewed scientific studies.   Science is not political, and facts don't choose a party and lean one way or the other.  I know it's hard to see that when your brain has been washed, but it's true.  Conservatives these days, they don't let pesky scienctific facts get in the way of their steadfast, beligerant, and just plain wrong ideology.  Wow, just like Bush! 

That sentiment was echoed by Simon Fraser University professor Neil Boyd, who wrote one report that concluded Insite wasn't attracting new crime or drug users to the area.

"We have a government in Ottawa at the moment that is driven by dogma, and that is seemingly impervious to evidence-based social policy," Boyd said.

Let me pause here and say that equating the closing Insite to genocide is just a tad hyperbolic and not helpful.   I'm looking at you, Dr. Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society.  Please choose your words carefully - you're giving the wingnuts and fence-sitters apoplectic fits:

"When you neglect purposely a percentage of the population that can be defined on the basis of a particular characteristic, that's genocide. And I will tell you that is exactly what they are doing," Montaner said.

I'd say if there were roaming squads of right wing goons combing the streets and murdering addicts (they wish!), that might be a bit closer to genocide.  Perhaps the good doctor and I will have to agree to disagree on the use of that particular term.  However, we are 100% agreed on other statements:

He predicted that if the Conservatives win a majority government, they will close Insite.

"These people, they have no morals and they are after this population because they want them gone," said Montaner.

Drug addiction is a complex social and health issue.  Stubborn, unblinking ideology and the disturbing need to inflict punishment is not going to solve anything.  It's just grinding the gears. 

The government has rejected science in favour of a "tough-on-crime" mentality, which puts our communities at risk. It has adopted an American-style approach to drug policy, which 220 U.S. mayors declared to be a failure in a unanimous vote last year. It has turned it's back on science, public health and public interest. And it has failed in the first and most fundamental duty of any government, by placing a greater value on flawed ideology than on the lives of its citizens.

Critics of InSite claim that harm reduction promotes drug use, but a study published in the British Medical Journal says the opposite.

When it comes to public health, the experts often disagree. That is not the case with InSite. Still, not even a mountain of evidence has managed to deter Harper's conservatives. Vancouver Centre Conservative candidate Lorne Meyencourt has claimed that InSite should "refocus its energies on recovery, getting people into detox [and] getting people into treatment."

Here too, the Conservatives are apparently immune to facts. Harm reduction is just one part -- alongside prevention, treatment and enforcement -- of the comprehensive "Four Pillars" approach to drug policy that was adopted by the City of Vancouver in 2001. It has since been endorsed by the United Nations World Health Organization. There are over 100 InSites in Europe and Australia and they have operated in Switzerland for over 20 years. Since opening its doors, InSite has made over 6,000 referrals, 40 per cent of them to addiction counseling. InSite operates an in-house short-term detox facility called OnSite, and has begun to explore opening a new long-term recovery facility.

I've read comments online from people saying, "There's plenty of help already for addicts, my hard earned tax money blah blah blah".  Well, let me tell you that is a bunch of bullshit.  There is not nearly enough help available for addicts.  A 2-month or longer wait for an inpatient treatment bed for a teenage girl, in danger of ending up on the streets if she didn't get help right now while she is willing is not what I'd call available help.  This happened in my own family.  Another ancedote, which I've written about before - in conversation with a client at work, it came up that his son had died of a heroin overdose, some years before Insite opened.  He openly stated to me that he wished there would have been a place like Insite, because he might still be alive if he had a safe place to fix and they may have been able to finally help him with his addiction.   This is a business man, successful and caucasian - the Cons target demographic.  His son made a mistake, took a wrong turn.  This man loved his son.  Most parents of addicts do, you know.   If your child, heaven forbid, went off the rails at some point for whatever reason, and ended up addicted, would you want someplace safe where they could go, a place that was clean with medical professionals, so that they didn't die of an OD before they were willing to get help?  Wouldn't you want to prevent them getting HIV or HepC?  I ask you, do you even care about the transmission of those diseases outside of the addicted population?  Because Insite has been scientifically proven to help.  

What does Harper want to do with addicts?  Put them in prison for breaking the law.  What prison?  Hmmm.  Ask Mike Harris.   "All hat, no cattle" Harper would like a tough-talkin', rootin' tootin', junkie punishin' US-style war on drugs.  Because that is working so well!  

Report: US drug use shows little change in 2007

WASHINGTON - Cocaine and methamphetamine use among young adults declined significantly last year as supplies dried up, leading to higher prices and reduced purity, the government reports. Overall use of illicit drugs showed little change.

snip

"Use of marijuana and other drugs naturally fluctuates and if you look at long-term trends, current rates are smack in the middle of the range they've been in for decades," said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the decriminalization of marijuana. "There is simply no evidence that current policies ... have made any difference."

A World Health Organization survey of 17 countries this year showed that people in the U.S. were more likely than people elsewhere to have tried illicit drugs. The U.S. tied New Zealand for the highest rate of marijuana use and far outpaced other countries on cocaine use, the survey found.

The U.S. report measured drug use over the past month, while the WHO's looked at drug use over a lifetime.

The WHO survey concluded: "The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries. The U.S., which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal drug policies as well as a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age than many comparable developed countries."

Repeat after me: The US war on drugs is an epic FAIL and should not be imitated.  Harper cannot do it better, smarter, or faster.  It is a failed policy.  It just. doesn't. work.  

A vote for a Conservative is a vote against science.  And art.  And the humanities.  Please, get this man out of the PM's seat before it's too late.