VANCOUVER'S SAFE INJECTION SITE A SUCCESS, DOCTOR SAYS

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's safe-injection site marked its first
anniversary Thursday with a good report card, a temporary increase to
24-hour service to meet demand and a plan to expand and include crack
cocaine smokers.

An average of almost 600 injection drug users -- nearly three times
the expected number -- use the site at Hastings and Main each day. It
provides about 3,000 addicts with access to clean needles, health
services and has intervened in 107 overdoses with no deaths, according
to the evaluation by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

"We think that this first evaluation report is excellent," said Dr.
David Marsh of Vancouver Coastal Health, which commissioned the
evaluation. "It demonstrates that the supervised injection site is
reducing the harm associated with injection drug use and we
particularly mean that with respect to preventing overdose deaths."

Mayor Larry Campbell said the data show harm reduction -- one of his
election platforms -- is the correct way to safeguard some of the
Downtown Eastside's estimated 4,700 addicts.

"This positive evaluation of the supervised injection site indicates
our four-pillars policy is effective," Campbell said, referring to the
policy of prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction.

The report says about 588 injections take place at the site each day,
with an average of 11 visits per person per month.

From March 10 to Aug. 31, there were 107 overdoses by 72 clients. Nine
were first-time visitors and CPR had to be used on only one user.

Client satisfaction was high with 63 per cent rating the quality of
service as "excellent" and 32 per cent as "good."

The highest volume day was "welfare Wednesday" on July 28, when 845
injections were done over 18 hours. The high demand prompted this
week's three-day trial expansion to 24-hour service.

"We've decided to extend the hours from 18 hours a day to 24 hours per
day just for the three days immediately around the time when welfare
cheques are issued," Marsh said.

"If it does go well, we hope to continue it in future months but it'll
just be for the period of time around the welfare cheque issue."

Marsh and Campbell said the site already has a smoking room which has
been equipped with fans to accommodate crack cocaine users.

"We do intend to request from Health Canada permission to use that
site but we want to open it up as a supervised smoking facility,"
Marsh said.