HEALTH CANADA APPROVES SAFE INJECTION PILOT PROJECT

OTTAWA - Ottawa approved a pilot project Tuesday for a safe injection site
for drug addicts on Vancouver's east side.

Health Canada says the project will try to determine whether offering drug
addicts a safe and controlled location to shoot up will reduce the human
and financial costs of drug use.

The health authority will contribute $1.5 million over four years to the
project.

"The exception basically allows somebody to take their own drugs, cocaine
or heroin, into the site and inject it for their own use and they won't
face the prospect of arrest," said Health Canada's Viviana Zanocco.

She says other cities across Canada and the United States, including
Montreal and Victoria, will be watching the project.