VICTORIA NEEDS SAFE INJECTION SITE, SAYS MAYOR

VICTORIA - Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe wants to follow Vancouver's lead,
and is pushing to open the country's second safe injection site in his
city.

Lowe says he has seen the success of the Vancouver safe injection site
which opened last year, and wants a similar facility in the capital
city as well.

"We've been hearing about people shooting up in the alleys, people
shooting up in people's front yard, around people's businesses and
schools.

"In order to deal with some of those problems, we do need a safe
injection site," says the Victoria mayor.

He also says that when a city has an injection site, there are more
opportunities for addicts to find treatment.

Vancouver's site happened after years of opposition and debate. But
Lowe says he believes the people of Victoria are open-minded and will
accept an injection site.

"We know that taking these people and throwing them in jail hasn't
worked in the past 100 years. We need to do things
differently.

"This is something that has proven to be successful. I will fight for
it," says the mayor.

He wants the Victoria site to become part of the Vancouver pilot
project, with funding from the federal and provincial
governments.

The City of Victoria will hold a public forum in late April - when the
director of the Vancouver safe injection site will be on hand to
discuss the challenges involved in running the site.