I'll give this to Health Minister Tony Clement, he doesn't seem to be interested in preaching to his choir. After telling the World Health Organization AIDS Conference that curbing the spread of diseases like HIV and Hep C through supervised injection sites are actually "harm addition" over a week ago, today he told the Canadian Medical Association that they're a bunch of unethical quacks.
"Is it ethical for health-care professionals to support the administration of drugs that are of unknown substance, or purity or potency, drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed?" Clement asked out of one side of his mouth.
Out of the other side: "Already there are advocates saying that injection sites are not enough, that government should hand out heroin for free."
So, um, let's see... Clement recognizes the dangers of allowing people to use illegal street drugs of dubious origins, but then he scoffs at removing the criminal element from the addiction equation, the very element which seems to cause the greatest amount of harm not only to those addicted, but also to the communities they live in.
The Vancouver Sun had a very strongly-worded editorial last Tuesday on Clement's words to the WHO. And Barbara Yaffe commented the previous Saturday on how ridiculous the Tory war on drugs has become.
In more fun news, Wade at Signal Response has hooked us up with hours and hours of fun by linking to the Random Image Page of Persuasion: Print Advertising and Advocacy on the Prairies, a digital exhibit from the University of Saskatchewan.
In a similar vein, I don't know if I've linked to this before, but Todd Klein's blog is thirty kinds of fun. Klein was pretty much THE letterer for DC Comics during my heyday as DC nut. While Bob Lappan is my favourite letterer for the outstanding work he did on the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League series, Klein is pretty much the Bob Dylan of lettering. He still does some stuff, but most comics these days are lettered by computers and robots. He has a series on his blog where he talks about logos, many of which he created.
UPDATE (19/08/08): Dr. Gabor Mate lays it down solid on Clement's "repugnant" comments. (Via Globe & Mail)
mp3: "Oh, Sinnerman" by Black Diamond Heavies
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