EXTRA-STRENGTH HEROIN CLAIMS 20 LIVES ON LOWER MAINLAND

A batch of extra-strength heroin is on a deadly rampage in the Lower
Mainland, the B.C. Coroners Service warned Thursday.

"Heroin being dealt to users in some areas is at least twice as
potent as usual," the coroners service advised, citing 20 heroin
overdose deaths so far in 2011, double the number of deaths last year.

Drug users should "never be alone when ingesting drugs, and where
possible [should] use available community services such as Insite or
needle exchanges," the coroners service warned.

At Insite, B.C.'s only supervised-injection site, the waiting room
was full Thursday of anxious drug-users waiting for a cubicle to
safely inject drugs.

Insite registered nurse Tim Gauthier, one of two on-duty nurses who
save on average the lives of 18 to 23 overdosing users a month,
confirms "we have had 36 overdoses just from April 5 to May 5 this year."

None of the 3,000-plus people who have overdosed at Insite has died.

Victor, 41, an intravenous-drug user since 1997, said he's "heard
people say there's strong heroin being sold that just makes people drop.

"That's why I would never, ever shoot up alone . by the time you can
say 'Uh-oh' it's too late.

Mark Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society, which runs Insite, said
"the Vancouver police haven't warned us about especially potent
heroin and they're usually pretty good about that.

Townsend, and Gauthier for the B.C. Nurses' Union as interveners, go
to Ottawa next Wednesday to hear the federal government's appeal of
two B.C. Court rulings that have allowed Insite to stay open.

Insite backers have won two B.C. court rulings based on charter
rights and provincial jurisdiction over the safe-injection site that
opened in 2003 but the federal government appears determined to close
Insite, despite backing by police and coroners.