CRACK USERS WANT SAFE-INHALATION SITE FOR CITY

A new support group for crack cocaine users wants the government to set up
a safe-inhalation site in Vancouver to give crack users a spot to smoke up
in safety without harassment from police.

The smoking site would be in the one established almost a year ago for
injection drug users, the first and only spot of its kind in Canada.

"I believe it makes the street safer," said Rob Morgan, spokesman for the
Rock Users Group.

"Right now, on the street, if you're even carrying a pipe and you're not
smoking it, you get roughed up by the police. That shouldn't happen."

The group wants access to a room specially built at the safe-injection site
for those who smoke or inhale their drugs. The room was built into the
facility with the notion it might be needed for such users in future.

But it is currently being used as an office because there is no legal
provision to allow a safe-inhalation site, said Viviana Zanocco,
spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which operates the
safe-injection site.

"It's not so far-fetched. I think if you told me a couple years ago that
we'd have a safe injection site in the City of Vancouver, I probably would
have thought that was far-fetched," said Zanocco.

But she cautioned that a safe-inhalation site isn't likely soon and would
also require changes in the law to get an exemption to allow it to operate.

"I wouldn't speculate on what Ottawa wants to do. But I would anticipate
that they would wait until the three years of the operation of this is up
and we evaluate this and see what kind of harm reduction we get," she said.