WHY VICTORIA NEEDS A SAFE-INJECTION SITE

His name is Clifford. He's 41 years old, a drug addict, a criminal and
the man who convinced me Victoria needs a safe-injection site.

I first met Clifford at around 7:15 a.m. on July 14, when I found him
passed out on my living room couch with an empty frozen burrito
package on his chest. I wasn't sure how he got into my second floor
apartment or how many Zs he'd caught on my couch, but after one whiff
(think Keith Richards's ashtray), I decided I wanted him out.

I figured I wasn't strong enough to lift him off my couch alone, so I
did the next best thing. I put on the first article of clothing I
could find, grabbed my cordless phone, tiptoed out of my apartment and
dialed 911.

Five of the longest minutes of my life later, three officers arrived
at my apartment. After I clarified that I was not the home intruder,
but the bathing-suit-clad victim, I brought the officers upstairs and
introduced them to Clifford.

After an abrupt wake-up shakedown from the largest of the three
officers, Clifford had gone from conked out to 'cuffed.

At that point, I thought my time with Clifford was over, but that's
when the officers started emptying his pockets. Clifford had stolen my
credit card, bank card, ID, two MP3 players and my girlfriend's
address book.

Clifford had also gathered my laptop, digital camera, video camera and
every electrical cord in my home and thrown it all into a bag that was
sitting at my front door.

He had riffled through every room of my apartment, including my
bedroom, and snatched nearly every expensive item I own.

But instead of walking away with thousands of dollars worth of my
stuff, Clifford decided to steal one more thing: a frozen burrito from
my freezer, which he ate while it was still frozen.

A nap on my couch later, his plan was foiled and I still had all my
stuff, minus a burrito.

Though I didn't lose much of monetary value, Clifford did rob me of
one important thing: sleep.

For several days, I couldn't lay my head down without double-checking
to make sure every door and window in my apartment was locked.

But now that I'm a few weeks removed from the break-in, my paranoia
has faded.

Sadly, I doubt Clifford can say the same thing about his drug addiction.

I've been asked by friends if I wanted Clifford to go to jail for his crime.

And while it took me a while to feel this way, my answer now is no.

Clifford needs help, and he won't find that locked up in a cell.

A man who can't stay awake during a robbery isn't a hardened criminal,
he's a pathetic one. But what I find even more pathetic is that
Victoria doesn't have the proper social services to help Clifford.

Help is exactly what a safe-injection site would bring to
Victoria.

Studies of Vancouver's safe-injection site, Insite, show it's had
tremendous success motivating addicts to enter treatment programs.
Since April 2004, Insite has referred nearly 2,000 drug users to
addiction counselling. And according to its website, one in five
regular visitors to the safe-injection site ultimately enters into a
detox program.

This is the kind of program that can keep addicts like Clifford off
random couches and onto the right track toward improving their lives.

While some might argue helping drug users beat their addiction is not
the responsibility of the community, I think we can all agree
improving the safety of our city is, however.

Initially, there was fear a safe-injection site would increase
Vancouver's crime rate, but the city's Downtown Eastside has seen a
substantial drop in crime and public disorder since Insite opened its
doors nearly three years ago.

Today, Victoria police say they are dealing with more robbery cases
than in years past. I would have been just another victim if my
freezer hadn't been stocked full of burritos.

The addition of a safe-injection site in Victoria would send the
important message that our community no longer views our growing drug
addiction crisis as an embarrassing black eye, but rather as a
fundamental societal flaw that needs to be fixed.

And not just for the sake of the current drug addicts in Victoria, but
for every citizen. Because, although it's scary to think, none of us
know how many life-altering events we are away from stumbling onto the
same dark path Clifford and others currently find themselves on.