While there's no question the safe injection site has saved lives, or that most Vancouverites support its existence, this article doesn't reflect the reality of Vancouver's injection drug poblem. The corner of Main and Hastings looks less dramatic today because of repeated police crackdowns that have sent addicts throughout the city. And to say "almost all injection drug use now takes place behind Insite's doors" is laughable. Injection drug use is more widespread and visible in Vancouver today thn it ever has been.

Insite's success has been promising, but not nearly as dramatic as the author claims.

Mark

I'm a Vancouver journalist and, like most journalists I know, I hope Insite is allowed to continue and expand. But every time a story is printed that exaggerates the success of the injection site, it serves to fuel the arguments being made against it.

The Insite story is a good news story on the facts. Lives have been saved, and there is now a glimmer of hope for a lot of sick people who had no hope before. Perhaps best of all, Vancouverites appear to be supporting the site in ever bigger numbers.

So, please continue to watch this experiment and spread the word, but lay off the hyperbole.

I’m sure a good many Insite supporters cringed when they read your piece this morning. The conservative’s rebuttal almost writes itself.

Not sure how "news junkie" Ranyit feeds his/her habit, but I recommend a new supplier.

Simon Fraser University has no connection to the Fraser Institute, which is indeed a right-wing think tank.

And if you haven't heard of Rachel Marsden before this, you just haven't been paying attention. We've been reporting on her for years. She's been responsible for hundreds of column inches and TV minutes in Canada's national media going back a decade.

I even recall talk of a TV movie about the swim coach escapade.

We may not be proud of her, but we made her what she is today.

Umm, make that "put me down in favour of your continued writing about performance-enhancing drugs". Yours is the only sports column I read anymore, and whenever I watch TV sports there's a virtual asterisk in the upper right corner of my peripheral vision.

I was a serious athlete myself at one time. Most of the allure of watching these sports was in appreciating how much stronger, faster and quicker the pros were than I was. My own abilities gave me a benchmark by which to judge what I was watching, and it was fun, even awe-inspiring.

Baseball, football, basketball and -yes, hockey- long ago moved from the realm of athletic achievement to freak show. Barry Bonds should be barnstorming minor league parks, not chasing major league records.

I blame a complicit media.

Keep writing what you write.

As a freelance journalist, I've been in his place. I've invested a lot of time and effort and my own money to get to a distant locale only to find I couldn't get the story I'd set out to tell. I've stuck it out as long as I could, then made the difficult decision to leave. And then I've looked around for another story, any story I could sell to help cover my expenses. After seeing Nick's very public humiliation here I can say thank God I never found a Salon willing to buy and publish my piece on the scam artists of Berlin's Gypsy flea markets.

Yes, the United States has contributed much to the world.

No, you're not all simpletons and racists. Yes, some of my best friends are Yanks.

But you elected one of the scariest, vilest regimes imaginable to lead you. And then, after it was obvious to the world just how vile they were...you elected them again!

In the 21st century!!

Don't be surprised that the rest of the world can't bear to look at you, or take seriously your "Greatest Nation" fantasies.

You're like a beautiful, deliciously ditzy high school girl who turns out to be a run-of-the mill psychopath.

Your ancestors had some good days, but Geezus, turn off the History Channel and watch the news.

On the BBC or the CBC.

The Prius has never been the greenest option. Toyota's own Echo and Yaris, and the small Hondas and Nissans all come very close to the Prius in gas milage. That's before accounting for the extra energy and resources required to build the larger Prius.

Hybrid technology is 75 per cent about marketing, as is fuel cell technology, ethanol, etc.

But that's okay. The Prius is a very nice car, and if Toyota's marketing department has swayed buyers away from other, less environmentally friendly options, that's a good thing.

The only alternative that truly makes sense is the plug-in electric. Nothing else comes close.

is only smart until the first time three of you want to go somewhere and have to take a second vehicle.

Oh yes, the version sold in North america has a diesel engine.

Again, it's all about marketing.

The Salon/Current TV partnership seems like a natural fit. I look forward to watching it evolve. Now... do something about those production values! Start by giving your video bloggers decent microphones, and a short lesson in mic technique.

Good luck. I'll be watching. And listening.

1. Spell Check

2. Grammar Check

3. Lithium. Extra Strength

1. Mic technique.

2. Lose the music!

3. Mic technique.

Satisfying finish to a great series.

About donaldnj's complaint that the Sun wouldn't win a Pulitzer with the homeless story; the Wire doesn't explicitly make the case that they did. Only that eventually Scott won a Pulitzer. It's a minor point, but..

I'll miss bubbles the most.