OPPOSITION TO SAFE INJECTION SITE BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE: REPORT

OTTAWA -- The federal government is using flimsy evidence to justify
its opposition to Canada's only safe injection site for drug addicts,
according to a report to be published today.

And if Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government eventually closes
the site, scientific evidence suggests "a high potential for negative
impacts on health and the community," according to the report in the
Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The Harper government, voicing doubts about the project's utility,
announced Sept. 1 that it would only extend the facility's permission
to legally operate until Dec. 31, 2007.

Health Canada officials, as well as the B.C. government, the City of
Vancouver, and Tory Trade Minister David Emerson, supported its
extension until 2009.

Health Minister Tony Clement's news release said "initial research
has raised new questions" about the site, including whether it lowers
drug use and fights addiction.

But the report, by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS, says
Clement and police groups are expressing doubts about the site
"without providing any data [suggesting] the facility has been unsuccessful."

In fact, peer-reviewed research work to date has shown only positive
outcomes, the authors state:

- - About 5,000 individual addicts used the site, where nurses provide
safe, clean needles and assist when there are overdoses, in the first
year after it opened in September of 2003;

The total has since increased to 7,410, co-author Dr. Thomas Kerr
said Monday. He noted that the site, with just 12 injections stalls,
can accommodate only five to 10 per cent of the injections occurring
in the neighbourhood.

The usage indicates that the project has been successful in
attracting targeted users, who are likely to be HIV-positive, are
prone to overdoses, and "likely" to inject in public;

- - There have been "large reductions" in public drug use, publicly
discarded syringes, and syringe sharing after the site opened;

- - Addicts using the site are more likely to enter detoxification
programs or get references to obtain other services, such as health
care and housing;

- - The facility has not caused an increase in drug dealing in the
immediate area, even though addicts bring in their own heroin,
cocaine or other drugs;

- - There was an average of 1.3 overdoses for every 1,000 injections,
but no overdose-related deaths, since it opened.

"In summary, the evaluations of the Vancouver safer injecting
facility have documented a large number of health and community
benefits, and there have been no indication of community or
health-related harms," the report concludes.

"Although the effect of closing the facility is unknown, the above
findings suggest a high potential for negative impacts on health and
the community."

One of the four authors of the review, Dr. Julio Montaner, said the
Harper government's position is based on ideology and the
Conservative law-and-order agenda, not scientific research.

He said the Dec. 31, 2007 extension was likely chosen in hopes the
Tories can win a majority in an election expected next year, giving
it a clearer mandate to shut down the site and prevent other cities
from copying Vancouver's lead.

Clement's Sept. 1 news release didn't cite any evidence to support
the opening statement that initial research justifies skepticism.