INJECTION SITES BY JAN. 1: CAMPBELL

'I Am Not Going To Hesitate While People Are Dying,' Candidate Vows

Larry Campbell wants a safe-injection site for drug addicts in place by
Jan. 1 if he is elected mayor Nov. 16.

Realistically, there are zoning issues, staffing issues, a police plan and
negotiations with other agencies, but he will not wait around for the
perfect system while people die.

"Another two people died on Friday night because we don't have a
safe-injection site," said Campbell. "I am not going to hesitate while
people are dying. It's not going to be a year or two down the road."

The new mayor will take office Dec. 2 and if it's him, Campbell wants to
open the first safe injection site within 30 days.

"Here's my plan," Campbell said Monday."

"I'll meet with the (police) chief [Jamie Graham] and say I want a police
plan. I want you to get together with the health board and figure out how
to have a safe-injection site and still have law enforcement."

Campbell said that German safe-injection sites impose a bubble zone around
their safe-injection sites where all dealing is absolutely prohibited, and
that's something local police might want to look at.

Second, he said, "I want to sit down with the people on the prevention end.
We should have a concerted plan to get into the schools with medical-health
people giving information."

He said he's not so concerned about meeting with people on the treatment
"pillar" of the plan, since he knows that the health authority is already
working on a comprehensive plan.

Campbell did not seem to be aware that police are also working on their own
strategy for policing that will mesh with the health authority.

Vancouver Police Inspector Bob Rich, who is in charge of the district that
covers Vancouver's northeast sector, said last week he is developing the
police plan for the strategy.

Campbell, told about that, said that he expected that would speed up the
process.

"Bob Rich is a good cop, working hard on the Downtown Eastside, so I don't
think it would take that long."

Campbell said he's not concerned about the resources. He says he expects
$20 million from the province and federal government, since that is what
was discussed in early talks about the Vancouver Agreement, a deal that was
announced in 2000 between the federal, provincial and city governments to
tackle the economic, social, and health and addiction problems of the
Downtown Eastside.

Original estimates for the cost of the city's four-pillar drug strategy,
which includes a vast array of new or improved treatment, prevention,
harm-reduction and enforcement services, were $20 to $30 million a year for
the first few years.

Non-Partisan Association mayoral candidate Jennifer Clarke also has said
she will work with all agencies involved to establish the four-pillars plan
in a coherent and effective way.

Vancouver Civic Action TEAM mayoral candidate Valerie MacLean says if she
is elected she will sit down with the city manager the first day to begin a
public consultation process on where safe-injection sites and treatment
facilities should be located.

MacLean also said she would meet all community groups in the Downtown
Eastside, contact the federal health minister to get details about funding
for sites and request a meeting with the police board and chief to discuss
enforcement.

Campbell admitted he has no real sense from the Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority -- the agency that would have to operate or oversee a site -- how
quickly it could move to establish one.

And Heather Hay, the authority's director of health operations for the
Downtown Eastside, also said she could not give any definitive deadline for
opening a site, because it would depend on whether it went into a building
that was already zoned for health facilities, what kind of staffing was
required, who would actually run it (the health authority or a non-profit
organization contracted by the authority), how many other health services
would be clustered around it, and other variables, including what the
federal government's guidelines will be for safe-injection sites. Those
guidelines are to be announced by the end of the month.

Hay and others did say that the political decision to have something in
place soon would make a difference to the timeline and to the way the whole
plan is implemented.

Experts and others in the field weigh in on the proposed safe injection site.

MAXINE DAVIS

Executive director, Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation

"I believe that the delivery of health care should be evidence-based and
the research in Europe and Australia shows that [safe-injection sites] are
effective.

"They decrease the number of overdose deaths. They increase the number of
people who access treatment and they're associated with reducing crime and
theft.

"There's been no reported deaths at any supervised injection site in the world.

"I think [the need for safe-injection sites] is very pressing. I think it's
unethical to know that we can prevent people from dying and not do it."

BILLY WESELOWSKI

Recovering heroin and cocaine addict, now executive-director of the Inner
Visions Recovery Society.

"Safe-injection sites are not the answer. All they do is promote the
disease. As long as you feed the disease, people are going to be hostages
to it.

"There are some little things that could be done. I would set up a kiosk
down there with the phone numbers of treatment centres and bus tickets out
- -- to Kamloops, Osoyoos or wherever.

"You open safe-injection sites and every drug addict in the U.S. will come
up here. There is no way on God's green Earth they are going to work. In
the over-all scheme, what a terrible message to give our children.

"Loving someone isn't always giving them what they want. It's pretty clear
to me that dreams can come true. With safe-injection sites, I would be dead
right now."

PERRY KENDALL

Chief medical officer for British Columbia

"We've got evidence from 27 cities in Europe and one in Australia that
shows [supervised injection sites] can assist in reducing overdose deaths,
can bring the user into contact with health-care professionals, can reduce
HIV and hepatitis C and reduces public drug use, resulting in more orderly
streets.

"That evidence is pretty robust and consistent. There is no evidence that
it encourages drug use."

FIONA GOLD

Street nurse

"We need an over-all city plan where supervised injection sites are to be
located. We need to do this strategically to deal with the large volume of
users across Vancouver.

"We also have to remember that health care is personal -- we don't want to
set up injecting warehouses. We want to be effective in reducing the open
drug scene in a sane and caring way for everyone, be they a drug user or a
business owner."

LISA REDEKOP

Street nurse

"Supervised injection facilities are an immediate harm-reduction measure.
They prevent HIV and hepatitis C transmission and overdose deaths. They
need to be integrated into a system of care, and by that I mean detox and
drug treatment programs. We should put all of our efforts into advocating
for these services.

"Let's open them as soon as possible. They are the beginning of a system of
care."

THOMAS KERR

Health researcher with B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

"I think [safe-injection sites] are desperately needed. They're just one
part of a comprehensive strategy that will work best when complemented with
treatment.

"They help keep people alive. Dead junkies don't detox. You need to keep
people alive long enough to get them into treatment.

"Some of the people who are making statements haven't really looked at the
evidence or the data. These facilities are not new things. They've been
around since the '80s."

DR. DON HEDGES

New Westminster physician specializing in addiction problems

"What we would be doing with a government-funded and approved facility for
addicted people is approving of their injection of toxic chemicals. We
would be legitimizing intravenous drug use. I wonder if people are naive
enough to believe that people won't overdose.

"When you give addicts unlimited access to narcotics, they become
non-functioning in terms of employment. They don't want to eat. They become
physically ill. The social and economic costs are enormous. This can't be
the solution to it. Yet the election campaign seems to have come down to
which candidate can proclaim the loudest that it is.

"The way to go is toward abstinence-based recovery. Part of recovery is
having to face negative consequences."

DR. DOUGLAS COLEMAN

Physician with a full-time addiction medical practice

"Give consideration to Switzerland which is about the same size as
Vancouver Island and has about the same number of people as British
Columbia. There are 26 cantons and about 5,000 detox beds, compared to 99
in B.C. There are 3,500 treatment beds in Switzerland, maybe about 400 or
500 in B.C.

"[Referring to the four-pillar approach to drug treatment in Vancouver] one
of the pillars is safe-injection sites. That pillar is dependent on the
other three pillars. But how can you have all the pillars in place when
there are only 99 detox beds?

"In a perfect world, I would provide funding for detox beds. What's the
point of giving people the poison? It's killing them. We are providing
tacit approval of behaviour we would rather not see accepted. We need to
provide treatment. We need to make abstinence something other than a dirty
word."

BARRY JONESON

Former heroin addict

"If an addict is shooting up in a safe-injection site, he is still a slave
to the drug that is killing him. He doesn't improve his quality of life.
His kids are still wondering where he is.

"I would have sooner been dead than have someone prolonging my life like
that. Safe-injection sites are enabling and caretaking. Without hitting
bottom, the addict can't come up.

"I'd make more money available for treatment. It takes at least two weeks
for an addict to get into a detox centre. When an addict has Cthat moment
of clarity, there is a very tiny window of opportunity."