STUDY PLAYS DOWN FEARS OVER SAFE INJECTION SITE

Vancouver Experiment Doesn't Increase Hard Drug Use, Researchers Find

VANCOUVER -- Having access to Vancouver's experimental supervised
injection site doesn't increase the chances an addict will relapse or
start bingeing on drugs, according to a study published in the
British Medical Journal this week.

Nor does the availability of the site significantly decrease the
chance that addicts will seek treatment through methadone programs,
according to the study done by the B.C. Centre of Excellence for
HIV/AIDS and funded by Health Canada.

The report, the first of its kind, is proof that the reduction in
harm pointed out in previous studies --including a decrease in
sharing of needles and public disorder -- isn't outweighed by a
possible increase in illegal drug use, said one of the authors, Thomas Kerr.

"People worried that the safe injection site would send the wrong
message," Dr. Kerr said.

"What if it gives the message that drug use is okay? Will it mean
that more people will start injecting drugs? Will drug use in the
community get worse?

"These results show that those problems haven't occurred."

The supervised injection site, called Insite, is a pilot project
started in 2003 to combat the high HIV and hepatitis C rates among
drug users in the Downtown Eastside, an area that has been notorious
for being Canada's worst skid row.

But the drug-law exemption provided to the site by Health Canada, and
whether it will continue treating about 600 people a day, is up for
review in September.

Part of that review will include several studies funded by a
$1.5-million federal grant to examine Insite's role in harm reduction.

But addicts continue to shoot up on the street and toss used needles
away -- about 7,000 per month -- and store owners continue to
complain to police, who began a crackdown last fall.

Prime-minister-designate Stephen Harper has vowed to impose stiffer
penalties for drug users, and said while campaigning in British
Columbia that he wouldn't use federal money to fund drug use.

Because Insite receives provincial rather than federal money, Mr.
Harper's promise is not a death knell for the centre, said John
Reynolds, the former campaign co-chair for the Conservatives in B.C.

"Once Mr. Harper gets this cabinet sworn in, he'll be talking to
[Vancouver Mayor] Sam [Sullivan] about it," Mr. Reynolds said.

The authors interviewed 871 intravenous drug users about their drug
use before and after the site was established.

They looked at the rates at which they quit or resumed using drugs,
binged, smoked crack, and the rates at which they started or stopped
a methadone treatment program.

The rates of these behaviours before and after were nearly identical
- -- to a standard of being within five percentage points of each other
- --in every category except crack use, which went up by 7.8 per cent.
That increase wasn't related to Insite, Dr. Kerr said.

"The increase in crack use isn't surprising, and has more to do with
[the fact] that crack has become more widely available, and as it's
being used more widely, fewer people are injecting cocaine," he said.

No scientist has looked at the behavioural patterns of addicts in the
community around the site before, Dr. Kerr said. Before the site's
drug-law exemption expires, his team will look at whether the site
decreases disease rates, overdose rates, and hospitalization, he said.

City councillors from Victoria and Prince George, which are pondering
their own injection sites, welcomed the study. Victoria is working on
a business plan for its site, while Prince George is consulting an
aboriginal forum to determine what to do about its drug problem.

"From my point of view, it shows these fears people had were just
fears of the unknown," Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said.

Relapsing into drug use doesn't have anything to do with the
safe-injection site, said Lee Weibe of the Vancouver Area Network of
Drug Users. "It's a place to keep them from dying in the alleys, not
much more," he said.