SHOOTING SITE SHOT DOWN

While it's true most people might not exactly start dancing for joy
upon learning a safe-injection site would open next door to them,
finding rational arguments against the facilities aren't all that easy
to come by.

"The benefits of supervised, safe injection sites are innumerable,"
says Nicole McNeil of Le Reseau d'aide aux personnes seules et
itinerantes de Montreal (RAPSIM), whose organization is currently
circulating a petition in the effort to encourage Quebec Health
Minister Yves Bolduc to reconsider his recent decision forgoing
establishment of any such sites in la belle province.

"They not only have a significant impact towards the prevention of
diseases like hepatitis and HIV, supervised injection sites result in
fewer people shooting up on the street, leaving their discarded
syringes behind them. And also, because they're in direct daily
contact with health care workers who can steer them towards
rehabilitation, addicts don't tend to stay addicted to drugs for as
long. Supervised safe injection sites don't endorse drug use, but they
do worlds of good so far as harm reduction is concerned."

RAPISM is hoping to add 5,000 signatures to their petition by January
5, 2009. To make yours one of them, go to http://.ww.rapsim.org.