INJECTION SITE FOR DRUG ADDICTS FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE

VANCOUVER, British Columbia: Supporters of North America's only
sanctioned injection site for drug addicts say the facility is saving
lives and curbing disease but they fear that will not be enough to
keep Canada's government from closing it.

Vancouver's Insite facility gained international publicity when it
opened in 2003 as a research experiment and health officials are
anxiously waiting to hear if the Canadian government will extend its
exemption from drug laws and allow it to remain open after September 12.

Insite's supporters say studies show the facility has prevented
overdose deaths and helped get addicts into treatment. They say it
also has slowed the sharing of needles, which is how Aids and other
diseases are often spread.

But the supporters worry the facility's future may depend on
political ideology. Insite was opened under a previous Liberal
government in Ottawa and new Conservative Prime Minister Stephen
Harper has objected to any government sanction of illegal drug use.

"We're trying to make sure he (Harper) doesn't drive the car over the
edge of the cliff before he checks the science," said Mark Townsend
of the Portland Hotel Society, a non-profit group that helps run Insite.

According to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which also
oversees Insite, the facility in the drug-infested Downtown Eastside
neighbourhood receives an average of 607 visits a day and has been
used by more than 7,200 people.

Addicts using drugs such as heroin and cocaine are given clean
needles to inject themselves in a room supervised by a nurse. After
shooting up, they go to a "chill-out room" before returning to the streets.

The facility's supporters say the goal is saving addicts' lives by
giving them access to medical help in overdose cases and resources to
help them kick their addictions.

There have been more than 500 overdoses at the site but none has been
fatal, which would have been the likely outcome if the addict had
been alone on the street, health officials say.

To open the facility, local officials got a three-year exemption from
federal drug possession laws as they studied Insite's impact on
overdose deaths and other drug-related problems in the surrounding
community. The exemption must be renewed for Insite to remain open.

Federal health officials are reviewing the results of the Insite
studies, said Erik Waddell, a spokesman for federal Health Minister
Tony Clement, who opposed injection sites while a provincial official
in Ontario.

Harper said in May he would not decide the site's future until
getting a report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which
strongly opposed Insitea€TMs opening in 2003.

A report prepared for the RCMP this year said the site's impact on
the community was difficult to assess but it appeared to have met its
objectives in reducing overdose deaths.

Vancouver police have asked the federal government to keep the facility open.

The federal government has provided about C$500,000 per year to fund
the research while the province paid C$1.2mn to build the site and
provided operational funds through the regional health authority.