GROUP WANTS SECOND INSITE

OVERCROWDING: "'One facility is tiny in a big, big city,' advocate explains

The group that runs Insite says there is a clear need for a second
supervised injection site in Vancouver.

Mark Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society (PHS) - that operates
North America's first supervised injection site - says with more than
12,000 registered users and 800 injections a day, the initial
location in the drug-riddled Hastings Street corridor is becoming overcrowded.

"I think there needs to be another one, for sure," Townsend said on
Sunday. "The one facility is tiny in a big, big city. So clearly, you
would have to have others."

Two years ago, the PHS rented a space in the area of Victory Square
and had designs done for a second site, but their focus was shifted
onto keeping the initial Insite open as the federal government
challenged its existence. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled
unanimously to keep it open in September 2011.

Townsend said the PHS would have to receive approval from a number of
different authorities before proceeding.

"We would have to get the city, the police, the health authority and
the provincial government [to approve the expansion] and then apply
for a federal exemption to do it, so it's a complicated step," he said.

Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang said the original Insite, which
opened in 2003, reduces the spread of HIV and other infections on the
street, and has connected drug users with health-care workers.

But Jang also said health authorities must determine an actual health
need across the city for a second site before city hall will back it.

"Our position is pretty clear - if the health authority deems it
necessary, then we'll support it," Jang said Sunday.

The federal government believes the health-care system should be
focused on preventing people from becoming drug addicts, rather than
facilitating drug use.

Anna Marie D'angelo of Vancouver Coastal Health, which funds Insite
and provides the health-care services, said there are no plans in the
works for a second site.

"I don't know if [the PHS] are going to do this on their own, but
they're certainly not doing it with VCH," D'angelo said Sunday.

"We would need a pilot project to see the health benefits, and get
exemptions from federal drug laws and that's not something we're
entertaining at this time." .