SAFE INJECTION CLINIC GETS THREE-YEAR EXTENSION

The Vancouver police department has given its approval to a
three-year extension of the city's safe injection site, which
provides a safe place for drug addicts to shoot up.

Many officers were highly skeptical when the groundbreaking clinic
opened in September 2003 in the city's Downtown Eastside, CBC News
Online reports.

But Insp. Larry Thompson credits the clinic staff with intervening in
200 drug overdoses, and helping steer more than 1,000 addicts into
counseling. He said he has adopted the philosophy of front-line
health workers who say they can't treat dead addicts.