VICTORIA STUDY TO EXPLORE DRUG-USE OPTIONS

Supervised Site Seen As Major Part Of Harm Reduction Strategy

A $300,000 study looking at supervised drug-use options for Victoria
was announced Wednesday.

The study, conducted by the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.,
will form the backdrop of an application to Health Canada for an
exemption from federal drug laws, which is essential for such a
service to operate legally.

Authorities making the announcement were careful not to say the
outcome of the study would result in a proposal for a single
supervised drug-use site.

Chief medical health officer Richard Stanwick said the proposal to
Health Canada could call for a mobile supervised drug-use service or
a service offered in conjunction with another facility, or a mix of both.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said the study would take four to six months
to complete and in the end would offer a "made-in-Victoria solution .
One size does not fit all."

Lowe said he gets complaints every day about people in the downtown
area shooting up, discarding needles, and using public doorways as a bathroom.

Addiction is a health issue rather than just enforcement issues, Lowe
said, adding the study is another step in the city's harm reduction
strategy set out in 2004.

Funding for the study comes from the Vancouver Island Health
Authority and the provincial Ministry of Health. Headed by Benedikt
Fischer, it nudges forward the oft-stated desire of several top city
health, law and elected officials for a supervised-drug use site.

Still, there appears to be little enthusiasm for such services at the
federal level. Prime Minister Stephen Harper campaigned against such
sites in the last election. On Tuesday, Health Canada said it would
not consider any additional similar projects until it completed its
assessment of the research being done at North America's only safe
injection site in Vancouver. The Health Canada exemption given to the
clinic-styled Insite Vancouver expires in September.

Stanwick said Health Canada has made it clear that other exemption
applications could not merely duplicate what the Insite facility does.

Victoria, being a small city with an estimated 1,500 to 2,000
injection drug users, could have demographic appeal, as study results
could be instructive to other small cities, said Stanwick.

Stanwick said there is a strong connection between illegal drug use
and the incidence of HIV, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases.
He added that treating one person with HIV is estimated to cost
$250,000 over a lifetime. Thirty-three new cases of HIV were
identified on south Vancouver Island in 2005.

There are more than 60 supervised drug use sites in 12 countries.
Fischer, a leading substance abuse researcher who moved to Victoria
on July 1 from Toronto, said they range from trailers, vans, small
integrated sites and clinical sites such as ones in Vancouver and
Sydney, Australia.

Police Chief Paul Battershill applauded the study, saying open drug
use strains police resources that would be better deployed elsewhere.

It also affects the public perception of safety of the downtown. "We
cannot enforce our way out of this issue."

Similarly, illegal drug use puts additional strain on the health-care
system, said Stanwick. Ambulances tied up on overdoses aren't
available for heart attack patients and hospital personnel treating
drug users aren't available for other patients.

Along with providing clean needles and a place to use specified
illegal drugs without fear of being criminally charged, many
supervised drug injection sites assist addicts in getting access to a
range of social and health-care services including addiction treatment.

Victoria businesses have been vocal on visible illegal drug use
downtown and associated problems.

A Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce spokesman said short-term
solutions are needed and the money on the study is being wasted when
a supervised drug-use site isn't a viable option with the current
federal government.