The reviews are in

The Star Phoenix editorial board slams the Cons' continud insistence on ignoring actual evidence about the effectiveness of policies - in this case Insite - in order to push their "tough on crime" message:

It takes a special brand of ideological blindness for federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to waste taxpayers' money in trying to protect a demonstrably ineffectual national anti-drug strategy by fighting stubbornly to shut down a demonstrably effective provincial health program.
...
What has Mr. Nicholson twisting logic on its head and giving short shrift to provincial and civic politicians, health experts and community groups in British Columbia, is his government's law-and-order agenda.

Apparently, it's (sic) ideological base is so rigid that there's no room for good sense, flexibility or even sound medical evidence that support the continued operation of Insite...

Were he less intent on pushing through a failed agenda, Mr. Nicholson might learn something from B.C. Health Minister Kevin Falcon, who too was a skeptic about Insite and considered it no more than an enabler for junkies, but did a 180-degree attitude adjustment after carefully considering the medical evidence.

And if Mr. Nicholson truly wants to focus on helping the addicts, he would be promoting Insite as a model for other jurisdictions and committing to them the public money he's now wasting on desperate legal appeals.