SAFE-INJECTION SITE FATE AWAITS

The Only Operation Of Its Kind, Giving Intravenous Drug Users A
Supervised Place To Inject, Will Close In September Without Federal
Approval For Its Continuation

VANCOUVER - As the deadline for extending Vancouver's first and only
supervised safe-injection site grows closer, people who are involved
with the site are intensifying their efforts to demonstrate its
benefits to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

Consequently, 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 site, near Main and Hastings in the Downtown Eastside, will close
in September 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 told Vancouver reporters in June that he was waiting for
assessments from the RCMP and other agencies before his government
would make any decision on whether to extend that exemption, which
expires Sept. 12.

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

Corrado says the site provides safe-injection 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."

As well, he questioned why so few young drug users access the site,
although he makes no reference to the fact that Health Canada
stipulated that people under 18 were not allowed to use the site and
that users were permitted to inject only once per visit thus
continuing the problem of addicts injecting in public.

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

However, RCMP spokesman 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 organized crime.

Ward said he could not confirm with absolute certainty that these
particular reports were commissioned by the RCMP, although he guessed
that 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.

"We haven't officially commented on those reviews," he said.

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 support it, 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
were 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."

On Wednesday, Carole Saindon, a spokeswoman for Health Canada,
couldn't say when an answer would be provided, only that the
government was continuing to study research around the site.

"The Government of Canada will not consider any other similar
projects until the assessment of the research findings from the
existing project had been completed," Saindon said.

Marsh's colleague, Dr. Thomas Kerr, the principal investigator of
scientific evaluations of the site, said results from the site show
the exchange of dirty needles and syringes is down in the district,
and that people who use the site tend to seek rehabilitation more
than people who don't.

"I can't see any reason why it wouldn't go forward unless we had a
decision based on ideology and not science," Kerr said.

As well, a coalition of Downtown Eastside groups, spearheaded by the
Portland Hotel Society -- a longtime advocate for improved health
services for drug users -- has been collecting signatures and sending
out material to Ottawa that shows community support and positive
scientific evaluations.

"We felt it was necessary to make sure people in Ottawa get all the
information. We don't want them to do something stupid because they
aren't informed," said PHS Director Mark Townsend, whose group
provides staff workers for the Coastal Health Authority-operated site.

Today, the coalition will erect 336 crosses in Vanier Park to
demonstrate the number of lives at risk should Harper not renew the
facility's operating exemption.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is not part of that coalition, but he is
also exerting whatever pressure he can to ensure the site gets a
renewed exemption.

One of the critical conclusions in Corrado's report is that it's
difficult to see a widespread community impact for the site, since it
only serves about one-third of the area's drug-using population.

Sullivan said this bolsters his view that "if anything, we should
probably have another site."

He was also critical of the other limitations that the previous
Health Canada exemption put on the site, besides restricting it to
one location, such as the stipulation that people under 18 aren't allowed.

"I found that with both the safe-injection site and NAOMI, the
heroin-maintenance trial, Health Canada has consistently obstructed
the best practices," said Sullivan.

"It's been very frustrating from my end. They have put up so many
roadblocks and the costs have been greatly increased."

The site currently has more than 7,000 registered users and it
operates at capacity for most of its 18-hours-a-day operation.