PM SAYS HE'S 'NOT COMMITTED' TO INJECTION SITE

VANCOUVER -- Proponents of Canada's first safe-injection site for
heroin addicts say they don't understand why Prime Minister Stephen
Harper isn't committed to the facility that appears to have saved
lives and slowed the spread of diseases such as HIV.

Harper told a news conference Thursday the Conservative government is
still deciding on the fate of the site where addicts are allowed to
shoot heroin or use other injection drugs under the supervision of
health-care workers.

"I'm not committed to it," he said in Vancouver.

"We're asking various agencies, including the RCMP, to give us
evaluations of that program as it comes to a conclusion and we'll go
from there."

The previous Liberal government approved the facility as a three-year
pilot project. In September, Health Canada must decide whether to
extend its approval.

Dr. Perry Kendall, the B.C.'s provincial health officer, said there
are already enough evaluations in peer-reviewed journals to suggest
the site should be maintained.

"I would very much hope that no government agency would act to impede
something that was showing health benefits and public order benefits."

Kendall is supporting Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, who wants a
safe-injection site in his city.

Lowe said Harper's comments give him hope because the prime minister
isn't saying the site should be shut down.

"All urban cores are experiencing some drug-related problems --
needles on the streets and people shooting up -- and focusing on the
harm-reduction method of trying to assist these people from a health
perspective as opposed to just enforcement" is something to support.

Lowe said he will talk to Harper about the issue on Friday when the
prime minister is in Victoria.

The Vancouver site has been supported by Mayor Sam Sullivan, former
mayor Philip Owen, former Mayor Larry Campbell, now a senator, and
the Vancouver police department.

A study earlier this year by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS concluded the supervised injection facility is not
increasing rates of relapse among former drug users, nor is it a
negative influence on those seeking to stop drug use.

Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority which runs the site along with the Portland Hotel Society,
said letters of endorsement from various agencies and police have
already been forwarded to Health Canada.

Zanocco said she doesn't understand why Harper would say the
government is asking the RCMP for an evaluation on the site because
the Mounties have nothing to do with it.

"I think the fact that we divert a lot of people to treatment,
whether it be detox or counselling, that's successful," Zanocco said.

Mark Townsend, spokesman for the Portland Hotel Society, said there's
enough evidence to suggest the government would support the site as
others have.

"I'd be shocked if they didn't support it because the science is in."