SAFE-INJECTION SITES WON'T WORK

If one believes the news-media reports, Vancouver's drug debate is
essentially over.

Larry Campbell is the new mayor and that means safe-injection sites are
coming to Vancouver -- perhaps as early as Jan. 1.

Campbell campaigned hard on this issue and, while there is no indication
that voters specifically endorsed this proposition, they obviously saw it
as a positive sign that someone would finally do something about the drug
problem that currently overruns the Downtown Eastside.

But Campbell's determination to help addicts shoot up demonstrates a
short-sighted and weak-willed approach to fixing/bettering the Eastside
community.

In fact, it may even exacerbate the problems that already exist.

The goal of safe-injection sites is to provide addicts with a safe,
hygienic and medically supervised area where they can blast themselves into
chemical oblivion.

A supply of clean needles, helpful injection tips and medical staff will,
in theory, reduce transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C and provide immediate
assistance in case of an overdose.

Yes, a few individuals will be helped but, overall, it only encourages
addicts to move their drug habit indoors and away from the public eye. We
may no longer see the problem -- but it will still be there.

Some experts on the Downtown Eastside don't see this as a good solution.

Dr. Stanley de Vlaming, a doctor who treats the drug addicts that live
there, and John Turvey, executive director of Downtown Eastside Youth
Activities Society, have both recently stated that safe-injection sites
simply aren't practical.

Vancouver's drug culture is based on crack and cocaine, not heroin, and
users may need a fix as often as 15-30 times a day. It's hard to imagine
that users on a binge would be so conscientious as to go to a shooting
gallery each time.

In fact, it was for this same reason that Vancouver's pre-eminent needle
exchange program failed to prevent the HIV and Hepatitis C epidemic that we
now have.

Users who are high and in dire need of a fix won't take time to walk a
block to get a clean needle. So we have no reason to believe that they will
now take the walk to shoot up.

The people with the highest motivation to get to a safe-injection site will
be the drug dealers.

If we gather all the addicts together in one spot, where the law offers
them immunity, we have to assume that the dealers will be nearby.

Perhaps that's why a majority of eastside businesses rightly oppose
safe-injection sites.

Finally, there is little data to support the creation of safe-injection sites.

In Switzerland, the implementation of such "harm reduction" policies in the
mid-1980s led to increased drug trafficking, higher crime rates and a
proliferation of experimentation with new kinds of drugs.

Surely we can offer addicts something better than lifelong oblivion and
addiction.

We can get them out of the drug culture and off of drugs by making an
investment in detox beds, long-term treatment and counselling.

It will mean medical assistance and money for education and job creation.
It will take police enforcement.

But it's the only way to break the downward spiral of social decay and give
users a chance at a drug-free life.

Safe-injection sites may remove the problems from our sight. But it won't
solve the problem of addiction.