U.S. DRUG CZAR CRITICIZES VANCOUVER'S INJECTION PLAN

Safety: Hecklers From B.C.'s Marijuana Party Boo American.

VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) - Vancouver, B.C.'s proposed safe-injection sites for
drug users are a waste of resources that should go to helping addicts get
clean, U.S. drug czar John Walters says.

Any policy that makes life easier for drug users will only attract more
drug users, he said after a speech Wednesday to the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Walters' speech on America's drug policy was punctuated by frequent booing
and heckling from a table of people that included Marc Emery, leader of the
B.C. Marijuana Party.

Walters conceded that safe-injection sites might save some lives "if you
have people who overdose."

"Why not save people from the fatal disease of addiction and not just from
the fatal opportunity for an overdose at some point in time?" he said. "Use
the resources - they're always going to be scarce - to make people well, to
reintegrate them into society."

Walters said he doesn't agree that safe-injection sites reduce the spread
of disease.

Mayor Philip Owen and Mayor-elect Larry Campbell, who attended the speech,
both said they didn't agree with Walters' statements on that issue, but
supported his comments about the importance of prevention and treatment.

Walters said he was in British Columbia to discuss issues of border
security and the problem of the province's large marijuana industry,
estimated at $3.2 billion to $3.8 billion a year, with 95 percent of the
drugs going to the United States.

He said he hoped to help Canadians avoid the drug problems that the United
States has "paid a bitter price for."

Walters focused much of his talk on the dangers of marijuana, which
prompted several verbal exchanges from those at the Marijuana Party table.

After the speech, Owen questioned Walters' information that 60 percent of
the 6 million drug addicts in the United States are addicted to marijuana
and represent the bulk of people filling up the American drug-treatment system.

Owen said the reason people using marijuana are so prevalent is because the
United States is more aggressive in arresting people for simple marijuana
possession and, through the drug-court system, they're forced to choose
between jail or treatment.