INJECTION SITES GIVEN GREEN LIGHT

Downtown Residents Want Moratorium in Ville Marie

A coalition of downtown residents associations is calling for an
immediate moratorium on any attempt to introduce supervised injection
sites (SIS) in their neighbourhood, saying the borough of Ville Marie
is already overburdened with the problems of homelessness and local
crime.

"What we're saying is that we are not against (SIS)," said Gaetan
Paquet, president of the Coalition des Associations de residents de
Ville-Marie, which represents about 45,000 of the 80,000 residents of
the downtown borough.

"But in the report there's no criteria for locating them, there are no
measures to reduce the impact of their being introduced in this area.

"It won't even happen in a hospital; it will happen in a community
centre. - What we think is that the Quebec government should establish
(SIS) everywhere (in Quebec). - We don't want them only to be here."

Paquet's comments follow the unveiling on Friday of a series of
recommendations by Montreal's public health department that SIS be
established in Montreal.

The proposed sites, which health officials contend reduce the spread
of HIV and hepatitis C and lower the number of overdose deaths, would
be staffed by medical personnel and set up at fixed locations in three
of four health department administrative districts in the city
identified as possible candidates for the sites.

One district covers Verdun and environs, another the west end of
Montreal, the third much of downtown and the last the city's east end,
including Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The report calls for the creation of
a mobile SIS able to reach areas not served by the other sites.

The number of intravenous drug users in Montreal has been estimated at
15,000 to 25,000. Paquet said the city's downtown residents are
already trying to deal with homelessness and crime in their
neighbourhood.

He said social services for itinerants and those suffering from
psychiatric problems are concentrated in the area, so Ville Marie
already is a centre of gravity for individuals - even from outside of
Montreal - seeking help.

"If the Health Ministry goes ahead with SIS, it has to be everywhere,
across Quebec," he said. "If it's just here, we'll have people coming
here from Rimouski."

The report recommends that sites be located in medical establishments
and community centres, but Lise Chabot, a spokesperson for the public
health office, said community centres already offering needle exchange
programs would probably form the majority of sites. That approach is
at odds with the position taken by the city of Montreal, which favours
the creation of more than one site but would prefer those sites be in
hospitals or CLSCs. On Friday, Jocelyn Ann Campbell, Montreal
executive-committee member responsible for social and community
development and a city councillor of Ville Marie, repeated that position.

"This should be carried out within the health network," she said. "It
is a medical act that must be carried out in a medical facility for
everyone's safety."

Campbell urged the province not to deal with the downtown borough's
problems "in isolation," noting that any SIS in the area should be
supported by programs that deal with homelessness and a lack of
psychiatric beds in the city.

Friday's report is the result of months of meetings with the city of
Montreal, local police and community organizations to reduce the
growing risks faced by local drug users, many of whom are homeless.

In October, Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced the province would
work with community groups in Montreal and Quebec City to establish
services for drug abusers.

That announcement followed a Supreme Court decision in September that
the federal government's attempt to shut down Vancouver's Insite
clinic - North America's only nurse-supervised injection site -
violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.