INJECTION SITE TO ADD BEDS FOR TREATMENT

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's supervised injection site will add beds to
treat heroin addicts in a bid to persuade a skeptical federal
government to safeguard its future.

The centre, Insite, will add 42 "pretox" and transitional housing
beds by February, meaning drug users can be funnelled directly from
the city's slums into long-term detoxification programs, said Mark
Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society, which administers the site
with Vancouver Coastal Health.

Mr. Townsend said Insite will help addicts get off drugs, which was
one of the criteria laid out by federal Health Minister Tony Clement
in September when he refused to extend its operating licence beyond
December of 2007, despite widespread support for the facility.

"We're not doing it to placate these guys; in no way whatsoever are
we doing that," Mr. Townsend said. "But, hopefully, it will give them
an image that there's more to this site than the controversy."

Mr. Clement said in September that despite widespread support for
Insite, he was unable to grant a 3 1/2-year extension to its
exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act because he
wanted more "diversity of opinion" in research surrounding the
centre, and wanted to do more "to help addicts break the cycle of dependency."

And this week, an RCMP memo criticized Insite, saying there was
"considerable evidence" that making drug use safer increases the
number of users.

This came despite studies in prestigious medical journals that say
the site reduces fatal drug overdoses, increases the desire among
addicts to seek treatment and does not attract new users nor increase
public disorder. An average of 607 people have used it each day since
it opened in 2003.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he does not think the site
should receive federal funding

The two new floors, called Onsite, would provide beds immediately for
injection-drug users while they wait for longer-term treatment spots
to open elsewhere, so that they don't disappear and die in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Mr. Townsend said.

By showing how addicts are funnelled through the system from
injecting safely to treatment, he said, he hopes the site won't be
seen as a standalone but incorporated with other essential services.

Though Mr. Clement did not comment this week on the plan to add new
treatment beds, his press secretary, Eric Waddell, made positive remarks.

"I'll say we welcome any move by Insite to work toward treating
addicts and helping them kick their addiction," Mr. Waddell said.

The second floor in the building would contain 18 beds designed for
addicts looking to enter treatment before they return to the Downtown
Eastside and become unreachable, said Heather Hay, director of
addiction services for Vancouver Coastal Health.

The waiting time for the 218 detox beds and daytime facilities in
Vancouver is roughly 48 hours for men and 24 hours for women, she
said. Most addicts would leave by that time, and the longest they
could stay would be five days.

The third floor, with 24 beds, would be for longer-term stays by
addicts who lack housing. As there is no housing waiting list in
Vancouver, the time they could stay there would be longer, she said.

"It's a place to connect people with addiction and drug counsellors.
If we waited for 24 hours while we find a person, they'd die in the
process, or we'd lose them. It's all part of one continuum; it's all
one piece."

Though the plan to add beds was conceived before the site was opened
in 2003, it is only now that approval has been received from the city.

Thomas Kerr, a researcher with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, which has studied the site, said he is weary of the
controversy, and opponents of the clinic are ignoring research for
political reasons. "When you are dealing with life and death, there's
no room for ideology."

He said it is disingenuous for the federal government to call for
more research but to also cut his centre's funding to study the
supervised-injection site, adding that he does not believe anyone
else is conducting such research.