First, for those who have not seen it Maxine Davis, Executive Director of the Dr. Peter Foundation has an important op-ed in the Vancouver Sun titled Attention Ottawa: Insite is a health care service.

More intriguing Safe Games 2010 and the Keeping the Door Open Society (which, for full disclosure, I sit on the board of) are hosting a panel discussion on harm reduction. One of the speakers will be Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, who sits as a Conservative and has been deeply supportive of harm reduction strategies generally and the four pillars strategy specifically here in Vancouver.

For those in Vancouver who are interested in the event – details below. Hope to see you there.

Keeping the Door Society and SafeGames 2010

invite you to attend

Global Insite – A panel discussion and public dialogue on Vancouver’s

innovative response to the international question of What to do About Drugs?

WHEN:

Friday 19th February 2010

7.00 pm – 9.00 pm; doors open 6.30 pm

WHERE:

Japanese Language Hall

487 Alexander Street @ Jackson Street / Vancouver

SPEAKERS

• DR. ETHAN A. NADELMANN Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance; New York
• SENATOR PIERRE CLAUDE NOLIN, Senate of Canada; Ottawa
• LIZ EVANS Executive Director, Portland Hotel Society; Vancouver
• DONALD MACPHERSON Co-founder, Canadian Drug Policy Consortium; Vancouver
• SHARON MESSAGE Past President, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users; Vancouver
• TARA LYONS Executive Director, Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy; Canada
• GILLIAN MAXWELL (mc) Project Director, Keeping the Door Open Society, Vancouver

Please join us to hear a panel of experts discuss the Canadian Government’s recent announcement that it will continue its efforts to close down Insite – North America’s only legal supervised injection site.  We invite you to participate in the dialogue that will follow.