B.C. INJECTION SITE TO STAY OPEN, FOR NOW

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement announced Friday his department
wouldn't give another three-year exemption to Vancouver's
safe-injection site for heroin addicts, adding that the site will
remain open until a decision is made by the end of 2007.

Clement said in a statement that additional studies will be conducted
into how supervised injection sites affect crime prevention and
treatment before a decision is made. "Do safe injection sites
contribute to lowering drug use and fighting addiction? Right now the
only thing the research to date has proven conclusively is drug
addicts need more help to get off drugs," said Clement. "Given the
need for more facts, I am unable to approve the current request to
extend the Vancouver site for another three and a half years."

North America's only safe-injection site opened its doors in the
Downtown Eastside in September 2003. It was established in Vancouver
following a intensive campaign for a safe, clean place for the
estimated 5,000 injection drug users in the city's Downtown Eastside,
an area with above average HIV and hepatitis C infection rates.
Health Canada gave the clinic a three-year operating exemption under
Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The B.C.
government provided $1.2 million to get started and provides
operating funding through Vancouver Coastal Health.

The exemption was set to expire on Sept. 12.

The impending deadline has resulted in a number of declarations for
and against the site in recent weeks. Last week, former city mayors
Mike Harcourt, Philip Owen and Senator Larry Campbell released a
joint statement in support of keeping the Insite clinic, saying that
it made sense both scientifically and financially. Current Mayor Sam
Sullivan and former Vancouver mayor, Premier Gordon Campbell, have
previously spoken out in support of the clinic.

Police Have Mixed Reaction

The reaction from the law enforcement community has been mixed. In
May, Vancouver Police Insp. Larry Thompson credited the clinic for
its interventions and said the department was in favour of another
exemption. But on Friday, the president of the Canadian Police
Association said the group, which represents 54,000 members, voted
unanimously on a motion to press Ottawa to stop financing Vancouver's
safe-injection site and invest in a national drug strategy instead.

As well, the province's RCMP spokesperson this week said the site was
problematic.

"We only support an injection site that would have as its approach
the four pillars strategy, and that of course is harm reduction,
education, prevention and enforcement. Does this particular program
have those four pillars? It doesn't at this point," said Staff-Sgt. John Ward.

That statement came despite a report from two criminologists
commissioned by the RCMP, Ray Corrado of Simon Fraser University and
Irwin Cohen of University College of the Fraser Valley.

"The main argument for those against supervised injection sites would
be that it would bring crime to the area, that it would increase the
use of drugs, that it would actually encourage people who don't use
drugs to begin to use drugs," said Cohen. "And none of that has been
borne out by the research anywhere." However, Cohen noted that the
site is not yet attracting enough users, adding that the vast
majority of addicts in the area are still injecting drugs somewhere else.

Statistics compiled by the clinic over a two-year period ending March
31 show there was an average of 607 visits a day to the clinic, and
that 453 addicts overdosed at the clinic - but with no deaths because
of the trained staff. There were also 4,083 counselling referrals
during the two-year period, including about 1,600 referrals to
addiction counselling.

Some city activists have vowed they would keep running a site even if
the federal government withdraws its support.

Clement also said in his statement that Ottawa is planning to launch
a new national drug strategy. "We believe the best form of harm
reduction is to help addicts to break the cycle of dependency,"
Clement said. "We also need better education and prevention to ensure
Canadians don't get addicted to drugs in the first place."