SAFE INJECTION SITES RECOMMENDED BY COMMONS COMMITTEE

Last Safe injection sites and needle exchange programs should be set
up for heroin users in major cities, said a parliamentary committee on
Monday.

The Liberal-dominated special committee on the non-medical use of
drugs issued the first of two reports on Monday.

The committee calls for a national drug strategy aimed at reducing the
toll of illicit drug use.

Among its 39 recommendations, the report calls for facilities to be
set up in large cities where heroin addicts can obtain clean needles
and inject drugs in a safe environment. It also called for two prisons
to be converted into treatment centres for inmates.

Health Canada issued regulations last week on how safe injection site
pilot projects would operate.

The committee is due to file a second report on Thursday. It's
expected to call for liberalized marijuana laws.

The all-party committee spent 18 months and half a million dollars on
studies and consultations.

The report doesn't have unanimous support from the committee
members.

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White issued a statement objecting to the
recommendations.

As vice-chair of the committee, White toured safe injection sites in
Europe, and concluded the "harm reduction" measures are wrong-headed
and only coddle addicts.

"They will maintain a chemical dependency to dangerous and illicit
drugs over a much longer period of time," he said.

"Why are we putting money into keeping people on drugs?" he said on
CBC Newsworld. "It's not harm reduction; it's harm extension."

But New Democrat Libby Davies said safe sites and exchanges are
valuable programs that allow addicts to come into contact with
programs that can help them before it's too late.

"A dead body can't go into detox or into treatment," she said.