VANCOUVER EYES PLACE TO LIGHT UP FOR CRACK ADDICTS

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell and the Vancouver Police
Union are at loggerheads over his plan to expand the city's
safe-injection site to include a room where crack cocaine addicts can
light up.

Campbell said yesterday the site now predominantly used by heroine,
morphine, hydromorphone and cocaine intravenous drug users should be
expanded so that crack addicts can toke up in a safe setting -- a
scenario the police union said would create crack dens and not help
addicts kick the habit.

"I don't know why they would be upset about that and fully supportive
of supervised injection sites," Campbell said. "We are taking the
people off the street that they have to deal with as a nuisance and we
are trying to get them help so it's no different."

But union president Tom Stamatakis said despite a first-year
evaluation of the safe-injection site showing 600 injections each day
occur at the downtown locale and 107 overdoses were prevented there,
his members see little evidence on the street that the number of
people shooting up and smoking up in alleys is going down.

"It's beyond ridiculous to now contemplate setting up a den for crack
cocaine smokers when you consider that it is one of the most addictive
and devastating drugs available today, whose profiteers are organized
criminals," said Stamatakis.