Manitobans who want safe injection sites don't count as expert research, Pallister says

ManitobaPremier Brian Pallister shot back atcritics of his position on safe injection sites, saying his opposition is based on research, rather than public opinion.

"I don't make my decisions willy-nilly based on polls, as you well know," Pallister toldCBC Manitoba's Information Radio host Marcy Markusa. "If I did, I wouldn't have advanceda flat carbon tax proposal, would I?

"I think that acknowledgingthere's lots of research on this and saying some people locally want to have an injection site is not research," he added."Research has been done all over the world and there's no one else who has opened a safe injectionsite solely for meth."

In a radio segmentthat aired Friday morning, Manitoba's premier again dismissed calls for a safe injection site.

Province liable if youth overdoses: Pallister

He also used the interview to defend himself after a CBCNews story quoted the office of B.C. Premier John Horgan, saying thatPallistermischaracterizedtheirconversationabout supervisedconsumption sites. Pallistertold question period earlier this week thatB.C.'s premier warned him about the"unintended consequences" of such facilities.

Pallister said an example of thoseconsequences is liability, which he said he spoke about.

"Taxpayers would be on the hook ifa young person wants to go into a consumption site, then subsequently overdoses and the state was involved in the provision of the drugs or assisted in the administration of the drugs," Pallister said.

"I understand the B.C. premier's office has domestic concerns about perceptions that I would be trying to say they're against consumption sites that's not at all what I communicated," he added, "but there is the issue of unintended consequences that we have to be aware of."

A supervised injection site, sometimes referred to as a safe injection or consumption site, allows drug users to have their drugstested before they take them under the supervision of trained medical staff.

Pallisterechoed previousarguments of his that the safe consumption sites in other communities deal with opioids, but there isn't an example like Winnipeg where the overwhelming concern is methamphetamine, a stimulant.

Unlike in Vancouver, where overdoses arepervasive, drug useisn't confined to a certain area in Winnipeg, Pallister said. It happens everywhere, and you'd need a half-dozen safe injection sites if opioids were the top concern.

When asked why the province doesn't just establishmultiple locations, Pallister wasn't convinced.

"You'd have to ask yourself: would that help the problem or would that aid and abet the problem?"

Hesaid his government would rather focus on establishingtreatment beds, rapid access to addictions medicine clinics and sharing preventive education.

Warm hand over cold needle

"We're making literally millions of needles available to assist people in not reusing needles, for example," Pallister said. "We're taking steps on so many different fronts and we're working to find more and better ways, but we have to be aware that a cold needle isn't as good as a warm hand in helping people get off drugs."

On Monday, a qualitative study commissioned by several health agencies, including the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Sunshine House, suggested a majority of drug users, and the advocates who support them, want a safe consumption site in the provincial capital.

"Providerperspectives varied on the degree to which [safe consumption sites]in Winnipeg are a priority, but they supported the establishment of [safe consumption sites] within the continuum of harm reduction and substance use services, especially if people who use drugs would value and access the service," the report said.

Several local advocates, including Rick Lees fromMain Street Project, ashelter and outreach program in Winnipeg, havecampaigned for a supervised consumption site. He's told CBC News that offering free needles without a place to use it islike offering half the treatment.

A doctor with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says there is evidence that safe consumption sites can improve the physical and mental health of people who use them.

"The evidence for supervised consumption, overall, is very good," said Dr. Joss Reimer, medical officer of health specializing in substance use. "It certainly reduces risks of overdose, connects people to the system, gives them a space where they can feel safe to connect with theirpeers as well as with the system."