FIRST SAFE INJECTION SITE BUILT

VANCOUVER - Vancouver health officials say the city's first completed safe
injection site needs more study before they'll give it the green light to
operate.

The Portland Hotel Society has built a site in the 100-block East Hastings
that could handle 12 intravenous drug users at a time.

The Society's Mark Townsend says they built the centre, in hopes that a
safe injection site will be open as early as April.

"We really really hope it won't be delayed past April. Every week we wait,
one more person dies of an overdose in B.C., and numerous people contract HIV."

Townsend describes the location as having stainless steel tables with
mirrors and water, as well as a waiting room and reception area.

He estimates it would cost about $400,000 a year to operate the site.

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority spokesperson Clay Adams says the site
may require more work. "From what we're aware, it doesn't meet our overall
criteria," he says. "We're wanting to include a treatment component."

He says the health authority is considering at least two other sites before
it makes an official proposal to the federal government.

Adams says that proposal will come by the end of the month.