INSITE STILL AWAITING DECISION

Safe-Injection Facility: Study Says It Hasn't Created More Addicts

North America's only safe-injection site has not lured any new people
into injection-drug use, a new study suggests.

Dr. Thomas Kerr, who was part of the three-year review, says he is
hoping the results will help convince Ottawa to continue the program.

"Basically, [Insite] is not causing people to start injecting," Kerr
said yesterday.

Research, to be presented Tuesday in Toronto at the 16th annual
International AIDS Conference, suggests that only one out of 1,000
addicts surveyed lied to operators so he could take his first
injection at the facility, which bars first injections.

"There is no evidence at all to suggest the site is prompting people
to start injecting," said Kerr, noting that most site users have been
injecting for at least 15 years.

Insite's fate is up in the air as Health Canada decides whether to
renew the three-year-old exemption that allows it to operate.

The site is meant to allow drug users to safely inject in a manner
that curbs the spread of HIV and offers addiction counselling and
nurses to guard against overdoses.

Supporters, including Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, have pressed the
federal Tory government to allow the program to continue, but federal
officials have been vague about how they will proceed.

Kerr, a lead investigator in an evaluation being done by the B.C.
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, said he hopes his presentation will
have an impact on federal officials, including politicians, as they
hear him out before making a decision.

Insite, located in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, will close Sept. 12
unless it gets a continued exemption under federal narcotics laws.

Observers are growing impatient as they wait on a federal
decision.

Dr. Julio Montaner, head of the B.C. AIDS/HIV centre, said he is
hoping for a renewal announcement during the AIDS conference.

"Anything else would be, honestly, unthinkable," Montaner
said.

NDP MP Libby Davies, representing Vancouver East, called for an
immediate renewal of the program to ease the uncertainty facing users
and staff.

Erik Waddell, Health Minister Tony Clement's press secretary, said
yesterday the department is "actively engaged" in assessing research
on the facility.

"[But] I cannot give you a timeline on when a decision will be
made."

Clement is scheduled to speak to the conference tomorrow. He declined
to comment yesterday on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision not
to attend the conference, as previous prime ministers have.