CRACKDOWN ON OPEN DRUG USE

Police Patrol Downtown Eastside In New Safety Initiative

A local support group for drug users is irate over the new police
initiative that started yesterday aiming to crack down on drug users
who shoot up in public. Police say the reason for the crackdown is
public safety and to encourage the use of the safe injection site (SIS).

Vancouver police initiated their new program of arresting drug users
who shoot up in alleys and streets near In- Site, the city's safe
injection facility in Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings. "We're
trying to make it better for all people in the area," said Bob Rolls
of the VPD yesterday.

He said the police are looking at it from a public safety and
educational view. The initiative is meant to protect local business
owners, residents, and tourists who complain about discarded needles
on the sidewalks and in the alleys, as well as encouraging safer drug
use for addicts.

But Vancouver Network of Drug Users (VANDU), who was outside Carnegie
Hall yesterday to protest the new police initiative, said it is
counterproductive, as it will only move users to other parts of the city.

"It's ill-advised and poor public policy," said Ann Livingston,
executive director of VANDU. "I'm discouraged as hell that this is
how change takes place."

Livingston said the city needs more safe injection sites as the
current facility is already at full daily capacity. She said when
there is a wait line to use In- Site, users tend to grab a clean
injection kit at reception and go outside.

But InSite by no means supports or encourages users to take the free
kits to use outside.

"It's hazardous to inject in an alley. [Users] are vulnerable to
predators," Livingston said.

An average of 40,000 needles are discarded around Carnegie Centre
every month. According to the police, most needles picked up in the
Downtown Eastside are right around the SIS. Both the police and
Livingston said there is an estimated 15,000 unsupervised injections
around Main and Hastings each day compared to the 600 that InSite
sees in a day, which means only four per cent of injections are being
done in the SIS.

Police said the longest anyone has to wait to get into InSite is
seven minutes. David Ellis, a second-year recreational studies
student at Langara, thinks both VANDU's and the VPD's solutions could
be improved.

He believes more money should be put towards treatment and education.
"Cops should put more resources into getting users away from drugs
and linking them with programs that get them on their feet," he said.

There are no plans as of yet for more safe sites to be opened in Vancouver.

INSITE information

- -InSite is North America's first official supervised injection site.

- -It opened in September 2003.

- -It operates seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.

- -InSite is a clean, safe environment where users can inject their own
drugs under the supervision of clinical staff.

- -Over a hundred overdoses have occurred at the site, but no users
have died there.

Source:

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority