SIT-INS DEMAND DRUG SITE

About 50 people in the Downtown Eastside staged a protest Saturday,
demanding that North America's first legal place to shoot heroin be opened
immediately. Chanting, "We're not going to take this anymore," the group
calling itself the Coalition for Harm Reduction staged brief sit-ins at a
number of intersections.

Since April 6, some community groups have been running an unauthorized
safe-injection site in the Downtown Eastside while waiting for a legal one
to open. "It's appalling," said site user Janis Carr. "All levels of
government say they support the opening of a site, but none have done
anything about it. That's why we were forced to open our own."

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell promised to have a safe-injection site in
operation as soon as possible after his election in November. But it was put
on hold while Health Canada develops a process for applying for a
safe-injection site.