Politics trumps research

After years of study, a group of B.C. doctors applied to Health Canada for permission to prescribe heroin to 21 addicts last fall. Permission was granted.

It was right about then that mollifying the Conservative base trumped science. Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose denounced her own department’s decision. She also promised to close drug-access program “loopholes,” reducing years of study to a sleight-of-numbers trick.

The research, conducted by Providence Health Care and the University of B.C., found addicts who received heroin under supervised conditions made strides in terms of both physical and mental health. This was not disputed, merely ignored.

Legal questions surrounding the study are slated to go to court.

The crux of Ambrose’s argument seems to be that the Conservative government is anti-drug. The doctors involved in the study are likely anti-drug, too, having witnessed first-hand what addiction can do. But, more important, they are also pro-people.

While we do not presume heroin prescriptions are a panacea, the program — aimed at those for whom more obvious approaches have failed — is at least an attempt to find a new way to help.

The continuation of the prescription program should be determined by its merits, which is why it’s sad to see the Conservatives using the issue as election fodder.

North Shore News