PROTESTERS PRESSURE GOVERNMENT TO KEEP INJECTION SITE OPEN

Protesters carried large placards and stacked wooden crosses on the
steps leading to MP Stockwell Day's Penticton office Wednesday to
pressure the federal government to keep North America's only safe
injection site open.

Penticton was the first stop on a cross-Canada protest aimed at
generating support for support of Insite, Vancouver's safe injection
site which protesters say is critical in saving drug addicts' lives.

Last year, the federal government gave a six-month extension to
continue to provide funding to allow the site to continue operating.
That extension is due to expire at the end of June.

Protest organizer Marc Townsend of the group Insite for Community
Safety said the Conservative government views drug addiction as a
criminal problem and wants to shut down the facility.

Townsend said drug addicts using the facility to inject themselves
under the supervision of medical staff are more likely to seek help
for their addiction and to remain in a detoxification centre than
those who are not using the facility.

Insite has also helped to stabilize the spread of Hepatitis C and
HIV/AIDS infection rates, he said.

Other group members, Joey Only and Leah Martin, said as Canada's
public safety minister, Day sets agendas relating safety and what the
policies are with respect to drugs and those with drug addictions.
The several dozen wooden crosses at the protest represented the 868
addicts who might have overdosed had they not been using the safe
injection site, said Martin.

Terry Green, president of the Okanagan-Skaha Teachers' Union was also
out in support of the protest.

Green said it is a tragedy that the Conservative government sees drug
addiction as a problem of a criminal nature and not a health and
education issue.

"It is our belief that people do not really make a choice regarding
drug addiction and the inherent risk of then spreading diseases such
as HIV or hepatitis," said Green.

A representative for the B.C. Nurses' Union, Joyce Procure, said
nurses have noted the program provides a valuable and effective
service in terms of drugs and alcohol abuse.

In the past two years there have been more than 4,000 referrals out
of Insite, and 40 per cent of those referrals are for addiction
counselling, she said.

A response on behalf of Day said a review of research results about
Insite is currently underway.

No decision has been made on whether or not the government will
continue to allow the facility to remain exempt from Canada's drug
laws when the extension expires June 30.

Meanwhile the federal government announced Wednesday that it is
providing money for drug treatment in Vancouver's east side.

The agreement will include Assertive Community Treatment teams, which
will bring together doctors, nurses and therapists to serve clients
with the most severe functional impairments. It will also provide 20
new treatment beds for the most marginalized and vulnerable women on
the street.

Insite opened in Vancouver's drug-riddled east side in 2003 to treat
drug use as a medical problem, and to lessen the dangers drug addicts
face by providing them clean facilities and trained staff.

Protests are scheduled Thursday at Harper's constituency office in
Calgary, Friday at MP Steven Fletcher's office in Winnipeg. Further
protests will be held next week at MP Tony Clements' offices in Parry
Sound, Huntsville, and Bracebridge, Ont. and at Ottawa's parliament buildings.