B.C. NEEDS MORE SAFE INJECTION SITES, SAYS TOP HEALTH OFFICIAL

VANCOUVER -- It's time to make safe injection sites part of B.C.'s
health-care system, says that province's top health officer.

Two years after it opened, health officer Perry Kendall is calling
Vancouver's safe-injection site experiment a success.

The Downtown Eastside facility is reducing overdoses, preventing HIV
and hepatitis C infections, and getting drug addicts into treatment,
he said.

"There's a very good case as to why it should continue as part of the
healthcare continuum," Kendall told CanWest News Service.

The pilot program, which began in September 2003, is North America's
first supervised injection facility.

Back in October, Kendall, who chairs the site's steering committee,
asked Health Canada to allow the site be exempted as a medical service.

Kendall said most of the 6,000 IV-drug users in the Downtown Eastside
are currently shooting up on the street -- only one in 10 use the site
daily.

"There's probably room for more [sites]," said Kendall.

Kendall said finding locations for other injection sites may pose a
challenge.

"In general, people are quite in favour," said Kendall. "They're just
not quite sure they want it in their backyard."

One possibility is to locate the facilities in places where IV-drug
users are already going, he said.

The City of Vancouver's drug-policy co-ordinator sees the need for at
least one or two more sites in the Downtown Eastside.

Donald MacPherson said the current site is at capacity.

"We should be treating these facilities in a much more low-key fashion
than we do," he said.

"And we should have enough sites to deal with the need for
them."

Last week, Vancouver's mayor Sam Sullivan said drug addiction should
be treated as a disability.

Ann Livingstone of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users said
there's a need for an extra four or five injection sites in the
Downtown Eastside alone.

And she doesn't want authorities to wait until the project ends in
2006.

"I could easily go to a community and tell you they need a
safe-injection site ... [because of] public drug-use," she said.

Viviana Zanocco said the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority will await
the final evaluation of the site before deciding to open another site.

"We've got to make sure this works," she said.

"People want to know what the outcome of the scientific and research
part is before any other community or any neighbourhood opens their
doors to this."

"If we can prove to them 'look, this is why it works,' then it's
easier to make a case."

The City of Victoria has been looking at a safe-injection site, with
differences over its size and how fast it can open.

The future of safe-injection sites may hinge on the outcome of the
forthcoming federal election.

During a campaign stop in Victoria on Dec. 4, Conservative leader
Stephen Harper has hinted he'll scupper safe-injection sites if elected.

Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said in September there should
be more sites to assist the drug-addicted.