SUPPORTERS STEP UP DRIVE TO KEEP INJECTION SITE OPEN

VANCOUVER -- As the deadline for extending Vancouver's first and only
supervised safe-injection site nears, proponents are ramping up their
efforts to demonstrate its benefits to Prime Minister Stephen
Harper's Conservative government.

Consequently, more and more studies are emerging to illustrate those
benefits, the latest of which says that in addition to saving lives,
the site reduces ambulance visits and hospital stays.

The Downtown Eastside site will close Sept. 12 unless the federal
government grants a continued 31/2-year exemption from Canada's
narcotics law that permits drug users to inject drugs safely.

Harper said in June he was waiting for assessments from the RCMP and
other agencies before his government decides whether to extend that exemption.

But according to a report by Simon Fraser University criminologist
Raymond Corrado, obtained by CanWest News Service, Vancouver RCMP
have reported "consistently positive" results for the site.

Corrado says the site provides education to those who need it the
most. There were no deaths from drug overdoses on site and few in the
nearby areas. Binge drug use was down. The area around the injection
site had less drug-related litter.

And despite the fears of many people, drug use did not increase.

The shortcomings, Corrado noted, were that there were
"disappointingly few referrals to detoxification services, largely
because clients usually did not meet the strict conditions required
to access these services."

Corrado's report is complemented by a second report, also by a B.C.
criminologist, Irwin Cohen, that summarizes research on European
supervised injection sites, which generally finds they have produced
positive outcomes.

However, RCMP Staff Sgt. John Ward said these assessments are "only
part of our process of looking into" the question of
supervised-injection sites and that the RCMP's position continues to
be that it does not support any initiative that encourages drug use
or any legalization of drugs currently prohibited in Canada.

According to information accompanying the reports, Corrado's review
was commissioned by Chief Supt. Derek Ogden, the RCMP director for
drugs and organization crime.

Ward said he could not confirm with absolute certainty that these
particular reports were commissioned by the RCMP, although he guessed
they had been, as the RCMP is in the midst of gathering information
on supervised injection sites.

Nor could he say if the reports had been sent to the prime minister's
office or Health Canada.

The RCMP did not support the exemption last time. But the city --
with former mayor Larry Campbell leading the way -- Vancouver police,
the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the provincial medical
health officer did, which met Health Canada's requirement for
political, police and community approval.

Dr. David Marsh, the physician leader for addiction medicine for
Vancouver Coastal Health, said Wednesday that all parties involved
are still in the process of applying for another exemption.

"We've had correspondence back and forth to clarify answers to
questions they had, and now we're waiting for a final decision."

Marsh couldn't say when the decision will come, but added that he
hopes "it will be sooner rather than later."

"As a clinician who's worked in the field for many years, I'm
convinced there are people who would have died if their overdoses had
happened anywhere else."