UN INCB CALLS TO SHUT DOWN CANADIAN DRUG INJECTION SITES:

According to an article in "The Citizen" (western Canada) The UN INCB has recommended that Canada “shut drug injection sites” (March 5). One has to wonder what the folks at the UN Narcotics Control Agency have been smoking. First, to the extent Canada is violating any UN conventions with supervised injection facilities and distribution of “handouts of paraphernalia” it is in very good company; injection sites have been widely available in Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands, for example, for years, and needle/syringe exchange programs operate in countries throughout the world (yes, even in the USA, where the Federal government has a rigid flat-earth view of harm reduction). If the UN body has evidence that these services “enable” illicit use, as it claims, it’s keeping it close to the chest, since no credible reports of such adverse effects have been published. To the contrary: experience – including that of Canada - has consistently proven that these measures add to the safety of drug users as well as the general community, and actually facilitate referral to long-term treatment. And one would expect no less, since the alternative is abandonment. Go Canada!