ROAD TO RECOVERY STARTS AT INSITE

Dean Wilson used heroin for the first time when he was 10 years old.

The 53-year-old has been an addict for most of his life but wants to
be sober now. After years of drug use he looks tired, with a thin
face and dark circles under his eyes.

Sitting in his office at the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users
(VANDU) near Main and Hastings, he shifts restlessly in his chair. "I
was wired up until five months ago," Wilson said. "I've been wired
for a long time and I'm getting old and I just don't want to do it anymore."

Wilson is the president of VANDU, an organization run by and for drug
users in the Downtown Eastside.

He has championed the cause of health care for addicts in Vancouver
for 10 years, and was instrumental in starting Insite, the supervised
injection site near Main and Hastings.

Wilson and partner Anne Livingston have been pushing for years for a
change in attitude toward drug addiction.

They argue that, like alcoholism or diabetes, drug addiction should
be treated as a disease. They want to see the government regulate
drugs like heroin and crack rather than prohibit them.

"For me, recovery means whatever it takes to cope with real life,"
Wilson said. "They give insulin to diabetics every day. If I need
heroin in my body to stay calm and be able to walk out in the street,
why not prescribe it?"

They speak with passion and frustration about their battle to start Insite.

"This isn't fun down here," Wilson said. "This isn't getting high,
this is getting fucking low. Walk a mile in my shoes and tell me how
much fun this is. This is serious addiction and we've got to deal with it."

Although Livingston has never used drugs, she has witnessed Wilson's
struggles with addiction as his professional and personal partner.
She has seen him go through many detox centres only to go back to using.

Wilson is currently on Methadone and has not used heroin for the past
five months, but Livingston is realistic about the way the drug has
manipulated his behaviour and personality.

"I think it's easier for people to be an addict than a failure," she
said. "Particularly men. They have a fear of getting straight because
they might turn out to be a nobody."

It was at Insite that Wilson was able to get treatment and a push
towards sobriety.

"It's a good start," Livingston said. "As a place where people can go
and get treatment, whether they're going into a methadone program or
becoming abstinent. Whatever treatment is for them, it's going to
hopefully shine a beacon saying this is the standard that we want."

Wilson said he believes the most important thing is for users to know
they are cared for.

"I think the reason they should walk in there is so that they will be
safe. So they don't have to inject in an ally," he said, adding that
once drug users get into Insite they realize people care about them
and they can start building on other aspects of their lives.

He said statistics have shown that people who use Insite are more
likely to seek detox treatment.

When asked about the possibility of the federal government shutting
down the supervised injection site, Wilson said he isn't phased.

"I don't care that the present provincial government doesn't support
it. It works, it's down here, and it's going to stay here. If they
want to close it down I'll just open up another guerilla site."