ORGANIZATION EYES SECOND SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE

Plans Include Crack Inhalation Room

The nonprofit society that operates the city's supervised drug
injection site on East Hastings has drawn up plans for a second site
in the Downtown Eastside.

Mark Townsend, executive director of the PHS Community Services
Society, said an architect completed a design for a facility that
would feature 14 injection booths, an inhalation room for crack
cocaine smokers and space to administer prescription drugs.

"It's done, it's complete and we could submit it to the city [for a
building permit]," said Townsend, who wouldn't reveal the location of
the proposed site but noted it is inside a building operated by the PHS.

The society manages several hotels in the Downtown Eastside,
including the Pennsylvania, the Rainier and the Washington. It also
operates a bank, dental and health clinics and a detox centre above
the Insite drug injection site.

Despite what critics may think of injection sites, Townsend said the
push for a second facility is a small part of the PHS's commitment to
making life better for addicts. "We're always trying to move forward,
we're always trying to be comprehensive," he said.

Townsend said Insite, which handles an average of 600 injections per
day, is at capacity. Insite has 12 injection booths and the PHS is
lobbying the federal government for an inhalation room.

Townsend acknowledged opening a second site would require many things
to happen, beginning with a court ruling in favour of keeping Insite
open indefinitely.

The PHS is awaiting a decision from the B.C. Court of Appeal
regarding Insite. The society won a victory in May 2008 when B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield granted staff and users of Insite
a constitutional exemption from the country's drug laws.

Insite was set to close June 30, 2008 but Pitfield's ruling kept the
doors open. The federal government appealed Pitfield's decision and
the PHS continues to wait for a ruling.

If the decision is in Insite's favour, Townsend said the society will
"get the ball rolling" to open a second injection site. Then would
come the tough part of finding money to fund it. Insite, which is
paid for by the provincial government, costs $2.8 million a year to operate.

Townsend pointed out that it took almost eight years for the PHS to
find funding for Onsite, the detox centre above Insite. It provides
30 beds, health care and counselling and costs $1 million annually to operate.

Several peer-reviewed studies published in international medical
journals concluded Insite reduces the spread of infectious disease
and leading some addicts to counselling, treatment and housing.

No one has died of an overdose at the site, which is the only legal
facility of its kind in North America. It opened in September 2003 as
a scientific trial.

During his campaign for mayor, Gregor Robertson supported opening
more injection sites in the city. Former mayors Larry Campbell and
Philip Owen have also said the city needs more sites to handle the
estimated 12,000 intravenous drug users in Vancouver.