HEALTH MINISTER HAS DOUBTS ABOUT SAFE-INJECTION SITES

VANCOUVER -- Canada's new health minister is studying whether to allow
Vancouver's safe-injection site to stay open.

The clinic's permit expires in September, and provincial officials are
leaning toward renewing it.

"I am reviewing this file. I haven't got anything definitive to say
about it yet, but certainly, I have some previous views that are well
known," said Tony Clement in an interview.

Clement vowed to fight the sites while Ontario provincial health
minister.

Vancouver's clinic opened in 2003 and officials in Victoria are also
hoping to open a site.

As Ontario health minister, Clement declared he was "frankly appalled"
when a parliamentary committee in 2002 recommended the federal
government set up sites in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Thursday, he seemed to soften that position.

"There are certain provincial governments that like these sites and
there are other provincial governments that may not like them, so in
that sense the issue is still up in the air," he said.

Clement said he wants to discuss the issue with B.C. Health Minister
George Abbott.

Abbott said he's eager to bring Clement up to speed on the province's
support for sites.

"I want to make sure he knows what we're doing, why we're doing it and
the outcomes we're trying to achieve," said Abbott.

"Many people think it's just about legalizing an illegal activity. In
fact, we're taking a holistic approach to drug addiction and mental
health issues."

Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer, said the Vancouver
site at 139 East Hastings has been successful in reducing overdoses,
easing drug addicts into treatment and preventing such illnesses as
HIV.

The site gets about 600 injections a day from addicts, who are able to
use drugs with supervision. Ongoing costs are about $2 million a year,
said Kendall.

"The evidence is this site is reducing risks to public health. It's
improved the social environment in the immediate environment -- in a
few blocks around the site -- with fewer people injecting in public,
and it's connecting people with useful health services," said Kendall.