INJECTION SITE STUDY FIGURES CALLED 'VERY PRELIMINARY'

Stanwick Says Real Savings Would Be In Lives. 'At Worst, It's A
Break-Even' In Health-Care Costs

A supervised injection site where hard-core drug addicts in Victoria
could shoot-up using clean needles in a controlled setting is
urgently needed for the lives it will save, more than the dollars it
could save, Richard Stanwick says.

Vancouver Island's chief medical health officer said allowing addicts
to inject drugs in the presence of medical staff will help reduce
overdose deaths along with infections and transmission of HIV/AIDs
and hepatitis C.

Stanwick said it would even reduce the spread of superbug infections
such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -- the
kind of infections sickly drug users often bring into hospitals and
unknowingly spread to other patients.

Antibiotic-resistant infections can kill patients, such as the
elderly, with severely weakened immune systems.

"Give us the chance to see if they [supervised injection sites] are a
good idea. And if they are not, I would not be averse to cancelling
them," Stanwick said.

But if they are successful, Stanwick said, health care will improve
for drug users and non-users alike.

And although he projects health-care dollars would be saved, the
savings would probably be offset by an increase in mental health and
addiction treatment services, he added.

A supervised drug injection site, or multiple small sites, in
Victoria would cost $1.2 million to operate annually, and save
anywhere from $2.2 to $2.8 million in health-care costs, according to
a document obtained by the Times Colonist.

The Preliminary Business Plan for a Supervised Injection Site
Research Pilot, obtained through a freedom-of-information request,
will be the first of two studies used in an application next spring
for a downtown pilot research project as part of a broad
harm-reduction strategy.

Based on an estimate of about 2,000 intravenous drug users, the
creation of a few small safe injection sites could prevent seven
overdose deaths annually, divert more than 1,110 emergency room
visits for a savings of $444,000, and reduce hospital admissions by
2,000 for a total savings of $2.4 million, the study estimates.

"But you could drive a truck through those figures," Stanwick said
yesterday. "They are very, very preliminary.

"We believe at worst it's a break-even," Stanwick said.

Supporters of the supervised injection site concept -- including
Victoria's police chief, mayor and prominent health officials -- are
optimistic about a comprehensive feasibility study by illicit drug
expert Benedikt Fischer now underway at the Centre for Addictions
Research B.C..

"I cannot and will not speculate what that may look like," Fischer
said. "There's a whole bunch of variables in the black box from now
until then."

The report is expected to be completed in the new year.

Of those who use supervised injection sites, only a "minority of
people end up quitting their addiction," he said, even though medical
treatment, counselling and information are provided.

"Most people who are addicted will never stop using drugs," Fisher
said. But if they inject their drugs in a safe setting, they might
stop other dangerous behaviours.

Partially funded through a $50,000 grant from the Vancouver Island
Health Authority, Fischer will research the peer-reviewed studies of
more than 40 supervised injection sites around the world -- including
two operating in Vancouver. He also will talk to stakeholder groups.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe hopes to submit the study to the federal
government in early spring to request an exemption from Canada's drug
laws that would allow for the operation of a supervised injection
site as a research project under the aegis of Health Canada.