SOUND DRUG STRATEGY MUST AIM TO REDUCE HARM, ADVOCATES SAY

Operators Of Canada's Only Safe-Injection Site Address Public Forum

Harm reduction needs to be included as part of a healthy drug
strategy, and this can be achieved by open discussion, supporters of
North America's only safe-injection site said at a public forum last night.

"We think it's really important that other Canadians understand the
context, and have an opportunity to develop their own ideas around
what a healthy drug strategy can look like for a country," said Liz
Evans, founder of the Portland Hotel Society, the community
organization that operates InSite, the safe-injection site in Vancouver.

"It's not to tell people they need a safe-injection site. Certainly I
have no idea if Ottawa needs a safe-injection site."

Safe-injection sites, the distribution of clean needles and other
drug-using equipment and the provision of condoms and counselling are
harm reduction services that aim to reduce the spread of infectious
diseases among drug users.

In Ottawa, the needle distribution program and the Safer Crack Use
Initiative have encountered political interference, which puts the
city where Vancouver was about 10 years ago, Ms. Evans said.

"It's frustrating that you're at that point in the debate in terms of
excluding people from something that's a life-saving intervention," she said.

"I don't believe the majority of people living in Ottawa would rather
injection-drug users got HIV and spread communicable diseases."

InSite opened in 2003 and was allowed to operate because of an
exemption offered under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act. The exemption was scheduled to expire at the end of last month,
but a May decision by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge has
allowed operations at the site to continue. The federal government
plans to appeal the B.C. Supreme Court decision.

Last night's discussion was the first in a three-city tour, with
stops in Montreal and Toronto scheduled for later this week.