VICTORIA MAYOR EYES FATE OF VANCOUVER'S SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe is paying close attention to the fate of
Vancouver's supervised injection site as B.C.'s capital city took a
step closer Wednesday to applying to the federal government for its
own facility.

Lowe announced that the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. at the
University of Victoria will immediately begin a research study with
the aim of recommending options for supervised drug use, including an
injection site.

Dr. Benedict Fischer of the research centre will lead the study and
is expected to report back before the end of the year. Victoria would
then likely send a research proposal to Health Canada for an
exemption under Canada's drug laws to open an injection site or a
service with supervised drug use.

"We are very optimistic that we will be able to see a site open in
Victoria, but nothing is 100 per cent sure until we have the funding
and the approvals," Lowe told the Courier yesterday.

He pointed out, however, the federal government's much anticipated
decision whether to allow North America's only legal injection site
to continue operating beyond Sept. 12 will undoubtedly affect
Victoria's chances of opening a site.

Lowe is worried enough about Insite's fate that he has written a
letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of a Vancouver
campaign urging the government to extend the experiment or keep it
open indefinitely.

As reported in the Courier Wednesday, the "Insite for Community
Safety" campaign has collected more than 1,700 letters of support for
the facility at 139 East Hastings. U.S. activist and linguist Noam
Chomsky is among the authors.

In Lowe's letter, which is posted on the campaign's website, he wrote
that evaluations of Insite have provided "invaluable data" to
Victoria and other cities facing drug problems. Insite opened in
September 2003 as a three-year scientific experiment.

"I feel three years is insufficient time to establish the broader
strategy of prevention, outreach, treatment and rehabilitation,
research, surveillance, knowledge dissemination and national
leadership and coordination," Lowe wrote.

Vancouver has a population of up to 7,000 drug addicts, according to
Mayor Sam Sullivan. Victoria's main core has up to 2,000 addicts,
said Lowe, noting that many people still find it hard to believe
Victoria has a drug problem.

"We are like any other urban core. You will have your social issues
and we're no different."

Lowe said he has visited Insite numerous times and believes Vancouver
could use up to four more injection sites. Like many Vancouver
politicians have said, Lowe pointed out addicts in Victoria are
already shooting up in alleys and parks.

"We need to look at some sort of dignity for these people and, as
well, creating some sort of order and safety on our streets.
Individuals coming down and shooting up in alleyways, in parkades and
in parks essentially create hazards for the public and for themselves."

Lowe will be 45 next Wednesday, the same age as Vancouver's mayor.
Both believe in harm reduction but Lowe says he's not sure whether
people from his generation have a different view of drug addiction.

"Possibly, but I think that in this day and age, dealing with the
issues as long as we have from a council's perspective, it's just the
right thing to do."

Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill, a former member of the VPD,
also supports Lowe's drive for an injection site. In the press
conference in Victoria Wednesday to announce the city's research
project, Battershill noted the majority of police calls are related to drugs.

"In addition to impacting the safety of our citizens, drug related
crimes are tying up our officers' time and preventing them from
responding to other calls for service," he said in a media release.

Yesterday, the campaign to keep Insite open planted several hundred
crosses in Vanier Park to demonstrate what supporters say is the
number of lives at risk if the federal government closes the facility.

According to a new research paper published in the International
Journal of Drug Policy, there were 336 "overdoses" at Insite from
March 1, 2004 to Aug. 30, 2005. The overdoses ranged from giving an
addict oxygen to calling paramedics, said Gillian Maxwell,
spokesperson for the campaign.