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Tue May 20, 3:43 PM

What's this

By John Ward, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Retired police officers, including one who travelled halfway around the world, are asking the federal government to keep Vancouver's supervised-injection site running.

Traditional, heavy-handed enforcement methods have been a failure in fighting drug use, they told a news conference on Tuesday. But other Canadian police groups said they're on the wrong track.

Three retired cops, either members or supporters of a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, endorsed the Vancouver Insite program which offers addicts clean needles, a safe place to inject and access to counselling and detox.

"We all agree that most of society's problems with illegal substances are not caused by those substances but rather by the over-enforcement of our drug laws through the war on drugs," said Tony Smith, a 28-year-veteran of the Vancouver police.

"We believe that drug addicts should not be treated as criminals but receive non-judgmental medical assistance for their addictions."

Keeping drugs illegal simply provides an opportunity for international traffickers to make huge amounts of money, he added.

Chris Payne, who spent his career with the Australia federal police said it may seem strange "for an ex-cop to support a place which allows people to inject illicit drugs."

But, he added, "law enforcement has put a lot of people in jail but I doubt it has done much for the addicts themselves."

Tom Lloyd, former chief constable of Cambridge, said Insite will save lives.

"If it's kept open, lives will be saved," he said. "If it's shut, people will be condemned to certain death. That's the reality."

He said he believes the hard line approach doesn't work.

"We have failed the drug users," he said. "We have arrested the young and foolish and blighted their lives. You can get over an addiction but you can't get over a conviction.

"And we have sometimes treated drug addicts like vermin and not like human beings."

The Insite program in Vancouver's blighted downtown eastside operates with an exemption from federal drug laws which expires at the end of next month.

Supporters, including the city's mayor and police chief, support the program. They say it saves lives, encourages the use of detox programs and hasn't lured more crime to the area.

Opponents, however, say it's the wrong approach.

Ron Taverner, a Toronto police superintendent and chair of the substance abuse committee of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, is an opponent.

"The legalization of safe injection suites is not the answer," he said. "We really endorse the three pillars: prevention, treatment and enforcement. They all go hand in hand."

"There has to be more emphasis placed on prevention and treatment and the enforcement just falls into place as a result of illegal activities."

Health Minister Tony Clement is faced with the choice of renewing the Insite exemption or letting the project die.

Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer and lecturer in criminology at the University of Alberta, said the choice should be clear - keep Insite going.

"It is well established that Insite and other harm-reduction approaches to drug use have made a positive impact on both public health and public order," he said.