VICTORIA POLICE CHIEF BACKS INJECTION SITES

The region's 1,500 to 2,000 intravenous drug users should have a place to
shoot up but only if it comes with treatment and medical care, Victoria
police Chief Paul Battershill said Wednesday.

A committee involving police, health authorities and others have been
looking for years at drug issues, including safe injection sites for local
addicts, he said.

It has looked at European models that focus on helping addicts with
services and followup to help them rather than giving them "a place to go
and fix drugs," Battershill said.

There are a variety of services for addicts, such as detoxification,
treatment and needle exchange.

"We have to try and pull everybody together," Battershill said, adding that
addicts using such a facility would have to be serious about treatment and
be well supervised.

Any such facility should be located where the addicts are so it is close
enough for them to seek help, he said.

Vancouver is in the planning stages for a comprehensive safe injection site
and could have it running early in the new year.

Victoria's planning is not as advanced, but local officials will continue
discussions next month.

Meanwhile, police favour an alternative to jail for drug and alcohol
abusers who are in rough shape out on the streets, Battershill said.

"Our primary role is to be supportive, to get people help," he said.

Victoria police officers have discretion in dealing with intravenous drug
users they see shooting up in public, he said.

They often ask the addicts to find a more private spot when they are using
needles, he said, adding rarely are there charges of drug possession laid
against them.

It is the traffickers police are after, Battershill said.

But sometimes police will arrest younger addicts because getting them in
the system is a way to get them the help they need.

Alcohol is even more of a problem. Last week, a coroner's inquest jury
recommended Victoria open a properly monitored shelter for street drunks.

The inquest was looking into the death of a man after police took him to jail.

Gerald Kaboni, 44, died June 3 from head injuries that the inquest jury
ruled he received from a variety of falls sometime before police put him in
the cell. He refused offers of medical help.

Battershill agrees street alcoholics also need a place to go as an
alternative to jail.