CHIEF BACKS SHOOTING GALLERIES

Province Opposed To Idea

It may never happen. If the provincial government has the final word, it
never will happen. If city police Chief Bob Wasylyshen's opinion counts for
anything it might happen - although he's not that clear on how it could happen.

People in public health have been talking for years about setting up
legalized intravenous drug-use sites, or "shooting galleries" - places
where needle drug addicts could go and inject under medical supervision, in
safety and privacy.

The theory is that legalized injection sites would save lives by reducing
the number of fatal infections and giving junkies a safe haven from the
violence of the drug trade.

Chief Wasylyshen agrees - and he thinks Edmonton ought to go out on a limb
and become the first Canadian city to establish a safe zone for shooting up.

"I think it's doable, and I think it's worthwhile," he said yesterday.

"People who are addicted to needle drugs are going to find those drugs. If
they don't use those drugs in a safe way, a lot of them are going to die
from it. This is something we need to worry about."

People are worrying about it, but it hasn't done them a whole lot of good.
The Streetworks program is a huge success in a dire field: the provincial
government-funded needle exchange program put 800,000 fresh needles in the
hands of Edmonton's estimated 10,000 injection junkies last year.

"That's something like three times more needles than the Montreal and
Toronto programs put on their streets," said Streetworks spokesman Marliss
Taylor.

"It's not that Edmonton's situation is any worse than any other city. But
we have a very localized downtown and we're well connected in that community."

Needle drugs kill, but rarely in the way you'd expect. A hardcore
intravenous cocaine or heroin user can stay alive for decades (if you can
call it living). But the addict runs a heavy risk of death by blood-borne
pathogens - hepatitis C or HIV - or more exotic infections like
flesh-eating disease.

And there's always the risk of an overdose from particularly powerful
street drugs or from drugs cut with something more toxic than usual.

Capital Health reports 317 out of the 545 Hep-C cases in the region last
year got sick through tainted needles. For AIDS, the ratio was 37 cases out
of 74.

"We've got people sharing needles, mixing their drugs in alleys with filthy
water from puddles," said Taylor. "Roughly 5% of the emergency room traffic
in Edmonton comes from needle drug users.

"The old approaches aren't working. It's time to be creative. (Needle
sites) could save lives."

If Edmonton ever does break ground in this area, it'll take a lot more than
creativity. It'll take trust - on the part of governments, police and the
addicts themselves.

Take Jerry, for example, a former cocaine and heroin abuser whorecently
kicked the habit. He said that addicts would be leery of taking part in any
legalized needle zone experiment - especially if they thought the cops
might be watching.

"How do they know that, if they go to this place, the cops aren't sitting
back and waiting to follow them out so they can grab the dealers?" he said.

"The cops used to follow the addicts after they got their needles from the
Streetworks vans. They tell us they don't follow the vans anymore, but we
know they do."

Wasylyshen swears Edmonton cops don't trail the junkies who visit
Streetworks vans. And he says the police could make some accommodation with
a legal needle site that would let the users feel protected from dealer
reprisals.

"If we can deal with the legal issues, we can make this work," he said.

But the legal issues go beyond merely allowing police to stand by and watch
people use banned substances. If a legalized needle site allowed users to
consume street drugs, and if one of them died of an overdose, could the
government agency running the site be held legally liable?

"How can they protect them from getting bad product, especially if they're
bringing it in themselves?" asked Jerry. "The dealers used to run their
houses like fortresses. You'd come in to shoot up, they'd lock the doors -
so if you died, they could get rid of the body quietly."

And if governments decided not to subsidize organized crime by allowing
street drugs into a needle site, would it have to start supplying "medical
heroin" along the lines of the new medical marijuana law? What would happen
then to the narcotics law itself?

"As far as we're concerned, the legal issues were settled 15 years ago when
cities started bringing in needle-exchange programs," said Sgt. Peter
Ratcliff, head of the Edmonton Police Association. "(Needle zones) would be
an extension of that.

"Police have had to change with the times. This is a health issue now."

Alberta Justice doesn't see it that way. Department spokesman Bart Johnson
said that short of federal legalization of cocaine and heroin possession,
he can't see safe shooting sites ever getting government sanction in Alberta.

"Basically, you're talking about the state turning a blind eye to people
breaking the law," he said. "These drugs are illegal. The public debate
over legalization tends to focus on soft drugs. Not heroin or cocaine.

"This government would be opposed to any such program."