SAFE INJECTION SITE OPENS MONDAY

VANCOUVER - Canada's first government-approved safe injection site
opens its doors Monday in a multi-million-dollar experiment aimed at
reducing Vancouver's drug problem.

The facility in the city's Downtown Eastside will be open 18 hours a
day, supervised by nurses.

It's estimated there are 4,000 injection drug users in Vancouver's
poorest neighbourhood - with some of the highest HIV and Hepatitis-C
infection rates in the world.

Former mayor Philip Owen, who first fought for the safe injection site
says, given the health risks, there was no alternative.

"Because it's pretty obvious you can't incarcerate your way out of the
drug problem. You can't liberalize your way out of it and just give
anybody the drugs they want, " he says. "You can't ignore it. So you
manage it."

But Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network researcher Thomas Kerr says his
recent study of Vancouver drug users indicates the safe injection site
will not work.

He cites strict Health Canada guidelines that require addicts to
register, and not help others to shoot up. And he says a beefed-up
police presence at the site will also deter drug users.

In a survey of 400 addicts , Kerr found that 92 per cent said they
would use the safe injection site.

But when they were advised of the Health Canada rules, that number
dropped to 31 per cent - and down to 22 per cent when told of the
police presence.

Kerr says health officials need to make the rules more flexible and
tell the police to stay away.

Police say eight officers will be assigned to patrol the area around
the storefront in the 100-block East Hastings. But Const. Sarah Bloor
says legitimate users of the facility will be left alone.

"We'll have to find a nice balance between allowing access into that
site, as well as the perception of intimidation or people feeling that
they cannot use that site because there is a police presence," she
says.