CRACK SMOKING ROOM DOESN'T SIT WELL WITH POLICE

The police commander for the Downtown Eastside questions the need for a
legal "safe inhalation site" for smokers of rock cocaine.

Insp. Bob Rolls said the request from the newly-formed Rock Users Group
isn't based on credible research that proves smoking crack in a
government-approved site would benefit addicts.

"Right now, what it would be is moving criminal activity indoors and I would
be opposed to that," Rolls said. "People end up going into cocaine
psychosis, and they end up being very violent and dangerous and
unpredictable, and to take that indoors and concentrate it in one room,
that's a concern."

The Rock Users Group, a branch of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users,
announced this week it wanted Insite - the current supervised injection site
on East Hastings - to provide a "safe inhalation" room in the building.

The group said a room in the site currently being used for storage would
provide a safe shelter to smoke crack, give addicts clean equipment and a
chance for them to get off drugs by talking to counsellors.

Crack addict Rob Morgan, who belongs to the group, said addicts are met with
violence in alleys and suffer from lung-related ailments from inhaling the
chemicals contained in crude pipe screens-such as cleaning pads used to wash
pots and pans.

The 41-year-old Morgan, who got addicted six years ago after trying crack at
Main and Hastings, said the group also wants to distribute "crack kits" to
addicts. The kits would include one Pyrex pipe, five brass screens,
polypropylene mouth pieces, Vaseline, condoms, a "safe smoking" pamphlet and
harm reduction materials.

"There's a big void right now for crack smokers, so we're pushing to get a
room and some money for the kits," said Morgan, whose group plans to
petition the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to get the room opened.

To open a room for crack smokers, the health authority-which operates Insite
in conjunction with the PHS Community Services Society-would have to apply
to Health Canada for an exemption.

Last year, Health Canada approved a three-year scientific trial for a
supervised injection site at the East Hastings location. Insite, the only
legal injection site in North America, is staffed by nurses and counsellors
who monitor addicts as they inject heroin and cocaine.

Clay Adams, spokesman for the health authority, said there are no plans to
ask Health Canada to allow a safe inhalation room. Even though the site was
built to accommodate such a room, Adams said the focus remains on injection
drug use.

"We haven't dismissed the idea, but the reality is we're not sure that
Health Canada would be particularly receptive, given the amount of work that
was required to get the exemption for the safe injection site," said Adams,
also noting the health authority won't be providing funding for crack kits.

Morgan, who lives in a Downtown Eastside hotel, said he uses part of his
social assistance cheque to buy crack cocaine. Up until a few years ago, he
paid for the drug with earnings from a construction job. Now suffering from
an injured shoulder, he can't work.

He knows other addicts who commit crime to pay for their habit, but believes
a safe inhalation room, where addicts can be counselled about kicking drugs,
could help reduce crime. But, he admitted, quitting is tough.

"I'm not what you would call a hardcore addict. If I get a rock today, I get
a rock today. But when I do smoke it, it feels good, and it's hard to stop."

Morgan added that if no efforts are made by the health authority or
governments to open a safe inhalation site, the crack group may open an
illegal site.

It's a threat that Rolls said should be reconsidered.

"These things done incorrectly just have the effect of turning all the
citizens against things that are legitimate harm reduction initiatives. It
would only makes matters much worse."