A WORTHWHILE STUDY

University of Ottawa professor Lynne Leonard is embarking on a study of how
a safe injection site for drug addicts would work in Ottawa. Great. Let the
debate begin, but let's not be too hasty to actually establish such a site.

And what a debate it will be, if the recent row over crack pipe
distribution is any indication. Ottawa doesn't have an obvious site for
such a facility, as Vancouver did in its hellish Downtown Eastside. So
neighbourhood concerns will be a major factor. Many people will have a
moral problem with nurses and city staff standing around while addicts
shoot illegal drugs. Still others will say the money should be spent on
health care for those whose illnesses aren't self-imposed. And police Chief
Vince Bevan says the city shouldn't be facilitating the use of potentially
deadly drugs.

A safe-injection site won't solve all the problems of drug-related
illnesses in Ottawa. Many Vancouver addicts don't use the safe injection
site in that city and those who do often inject elsewhere as well. But 600
injections a day do take place there, and that's 600 injections that are
taken with clean equipment rather than dirty, and are medically supervised
in case of an overdose. The addicts who do use the facility also have
access to counselling services and material on programs to help get kids
off the drugs that aren't available when they shoot up in back alleys.

Ottawa has a problem. Ms. Leonard says 21 per cent of injection drug users
here have HIV and 76 per cent have hepatitis C. It's time to study how to
change the status quo.