QUEBEC EYES SUPERVISED INJECTION FACILITIES

The Province Is Closely Following The Legal Battle Over Vancouver's Site

QUEBEC -- Quebec is considering opening supervised injection sites
for drug addicts, following in the footsteps of a controversial
Vancouver initiative that the federal government may shut down.

"We are looking into this very seriously," Quebec Health Minister
Philippe Couillard said Wednesday.

Quebec public health authorities say they believe this strategy can
effectively cut down on blood-borne infections among drug addicts and
set users on the road to recovery.

"The idea is not to promote drug use, but to offer users a safe
environment where they can also exchange syringes and get in touch
with people who can help them," said Horacio Arruda, director of the
department's health-protection branch.

"If you can prevent addicts from catching hepatitis C or HIV, you are
coming in very useful," he stressed, adding that one in four Quebec
addicts that share infected needles catch hepatitis C every year.

North America's only supervised injection site first opened its doors
in September 2003 to provide a facility for supervised injection drug
use to addicts in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The site is allowed
to operate thanks to exemption under the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act that expires June 30.

The project sparked controversy from the start, and there has been
tremendous uncertainty about what the federal Conservative
government, whose members have expressed disapproval of the site,
would do when the exemption expires.

But last week the B.C. Supreme Court ruled in favour of the
safe-injection site on the grounds it provides a constitutionally
protected health-care service.

Justice Ian Pitfield ruled the site reduces the possibility of
overdoses, cuts down on the risk of disease transmission and offers
users access to treatment.

Ottawa is appealing the decision.

Couillard said his government will follow the legal battle very
closely before going ahead with its project. "I don't want to
interfere with the tribunals here, but I believe in this matter that
priority should be given to safety and health concerns," he said.

The province's health authorities are currently doing feasibility
studies on injection sites.