SAFE-INJECTION SITES FOR DRUG ADDICTS MULLED BY FEDERAL PANEL

Vancouver Considered By Ottawa For Pilot Project, Mayor Owen Says

A special task force of federal-provincial officials is studying the merits
of creating safe-injection sites for drug addicts, with a pilot project
being considered for Vancouver.

The group was established in April, as a major report prepared for the
country's health ministers was nearing completion. The report urged the
creation of the task force, and governments gave their blessing to the idea
before the report was even finalized.

The 52-page report -- formally presented to the health ministers in St.
John's, Nfld., last week at their annual meeting -- notes that other
countries such as Germany already provide sites that drug users can visit
to inject illicit drugs under supervision in order to reduce the risk of
infection.

The task force consists of government officials as well as representatives
of police forces, justice departments, health and social services,
addiction agencies and community groups. Its job is to conduct a
"feasibility study" on the establishment of a medical research project that
examines supervised injection sites in Canada.

Vancouver/Richmond chief medical health officer Dr. John Blatherwick, a
longtime proponent of safe injection sites, said he was pleased the task
force was looking at the controversial issue.

"Let's put it in perspective; if you're not in favour of safe injection
sites, then you're in favour of unsafe injection sites," he said.

But Blatherwick urged Vancouver, which has itself studied safe injections
sites, to proceed with caution, and only if there is widespread public support.

"Vancouver would be well placed to wait and see what the task force comes
up with and what the federal/provincial task force is prepared to do before
jumping into it," Blatherwick said.

Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen said federal Health Minister Allan Rock told
him Vancouver was on the list of cities that Ottawa was looking at for
safe-injection site pilot projects. He said Vancouver would likely take
part in a national program, but added the would not set up safe injection
sites on its own.

Community Alliance, a coalition of businesses and residents in communities
around the Downtown Eastside, has lobbied energetically to prevent any more
services for drug users in the area.

Alliance member Bryce Rositch questioned the wisdom of creating a safe
injection site now.

"If you look at the European model, when they installed drug injection
sites, it's the last step that they've taken, it's not the first," he said.
"They have much more comprehensive programs. We're not doing most of those.
We're going right to the drug injection sites."

The report says the problem of illicit drug use is so severe in Canada that
governments should support clinical trials to assess whether doctors should
be allowed to prescribe heroin and other drugs to treat addicts.

"Canada will not be able to turn the situation around without a bold new
level of coordinated action," it warns.

"The misuse of injection drugs is a health and social issue that has and
will continue to have significant consequences for individuals, families
and communities in Canada. Failure to act now will result in escalating
health, social and economic impacts."

In recent years, the growing problem of illicit injection drug use has been
highlighted in other reports -- many of them written by non-governmental
agencies. The authors of the federal paper describe their document as the
governments' response to those reports.

In preparing the document, they consulted widely with representatives from
a variety of fields, including the police and prisons, health and social
services, community agencies, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C groups and illicit
drug users themselves.

It is estimated that up to 125,000 Canadians inject drugs, most commonly
cocaine, heroin and steroids. The addiction is strongly linked to drug
overdoses, complications arising from HIV, hepatitis C, and other
infectious diseases and suicides.

Indeed, the linkage to blood-borne diseases "is a major concern and reason
for urgent action," says the report.

Prior to 1995, about 8.9 per cent of Canadians with HIV got the disease
from injection drug use. By 1999, the proportion had jumped to 28 per cent.
As well, it is believed that about two-thirds of the 210,00 to 275,000
Canadians with hepatitis C are current or former injection drug users.

The economic costs could extend into the billions of dollars. In 1992,
before the escalation of HIV and hepatitis C infections from drug use, the
costs (in health care, lost productivity and law enforcement) were
conservatively pegged at $1.4 billion per year. Since then, it has almost
surely increased significantly.

The report says that safe injection sites in some European countries have
led to "decreased rates of overdose, fewer needles found in the
environment, fewer people injecting in public, and reduced criminality."