INJECTION-SITE OPPOSITION FLAWED: REPORT

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

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper eventually shuts the site in
Vancouver, 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 government, voicing doubts about the project's usefulness,
announced in September it would only extend the facility's permission
to legally operate until Dec. 31 next year. Health Canada officials,
as well as the B.C. government, 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.

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

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

About 5,000 individual addicts used the site, where nurses provided
safe, clean needles and assist when there are overdoses, in the first
year after it opened in September 2003. (The total has since
increased to 7,410, co-author Thomas Kerr said yesterday. He noted
that the site, with just 12 injection stalls, can accommodate only
five to 10 per cent of the injections occurring in the
neighbourhood.) The usage indicates the project has been successful
in attracting the targeted users who are likely to be HIV-positive,
are prone to overdoses, and "likely" to inject in public.

"Large reductions" have been made in public drug use, publicly
discarded syringes and syringe-sharing since the site opened.

Addicts using the site are more likely to enter detoxification programs.

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 has been no indication of community or
health-related harms," the report concludes.