SAFE SITE BY SEPTEMBER, MAYOR SAYS

City and Health Authority to Make Pitch for Money on Monday

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell said Friday he is optimistic he will
deliver on his election promise of a safe injection site for
intravenous drug addicts even though the $6 million in funding for
operating expenses is not yet in place.

Campbell said he expects the site to open by the first or second week
of September. During last November's civic election campaign he
promised the site would be open Jan. 1.

Despite his upbeat attitude, Campbell provided no specifics on where
the money will come from when he and Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority president and chief executive officer Ida Goudreau updated
the Four Pillars Coalition on the planned site Friday morning.

"I'm an optimistic guy," he said when asked afterwards how the funding
can be found. He said the funding is a provincial responsibility.

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority representative Viviana Zanocco said
after the meeting the authority is scheduled to make a pitch for the
$6 million to the Vancouver Agreement -- a tripartite agreement
between Ottawa, Victoria and Vancouver -- on Monday.

She said federal Secretary of State for Western Economic
Diversification Stephen Owen, who also is MP for Vancouver-Quadra,
provincial Municipal Affairs Minister George Abbott, and Campbell were
expected to be at that meeting. Campbell's executive assistant, Geoff
Meggs, said the city will probably be represented at the meeting by a
senior staff member.

The health authority has already applied for funding from the
Vancouver Agreement, aimed at improving the Downtown Eastside and has
also applied for money through the federal drug strategy's primary
health care transition fund.

The $2-million-a-year funding for the three-year pilot project remains
the biggest hurdle to the safe injection site. Health Canada approved
the site in June as a three-year research pilot project and approved
an exemption to allow controlled substances to be injected at the site.