LIBERAL BREAKS RANKS WITH PARTY OVER INJECTION SITE

VANCOUVER - Vancouver-Burrard Liberal candidate Lorne Mayencourt broke
ranks with his party Tuesday, saying he thinks the government-funded
supervised injection site in the Downtown Eastside is an expensive failure.

"It hasn't met any of the initial goals that we set for it when we said we
were going to fund it -- which was reduce the spread of HIV, reduce the
spread of hepatitis C, be an entry point for detox and treatment and reduce
the open drug scene," he said. "None of that has happened. I'd call it a
failed experiment."

The injection site, a three-year pilot project that began in the fall of
2003, has been supported by the provincial government with $3.2 million in
funding.

Mayencourt, who is running for re-election in the riding, said he thinks
the money could be better spent on things like drug treatment. "I don't
think it's a model that we can replicate to turn into a success. And if we
can't, we should shut it down."

A study on the site released last fall found that, between March and August
2004, the site referred 262 addicts to addiction-counselling services, 78
to detox and at least one user per week has gone on a methadone program.

On average, about 588 addicts used the site each day.

There were also no deaths at the site, despite 107 overdoses during the
six-month period.

Mayencourt's NDP opponent in Vancouver-Burrard, city councillor Tim
Stevenson, said he thinks the injection site is working.

"The safe injection site is saving lives," he said. "I just don't
understand Mr. Mayencourt on this. He's completely offside with everyone
from the police to the [Vancouver] Coastal Health Authority to his own
government."

Mayencourt alleged Tuesday that Stevenson said at an all-candidates meeting
Monday night that he would like to see an injection site opened on Burrard
Street in the West End.

Stevenson denied saying that.

"What I did say was that I would consider a safe-injection site in
Vancouver-Burrard if both the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the
Vancouver city police recommended it," he said. "If both of those
recommended that there be one, because of the problems in the West End,
then I would consider it. That's all I said."