SUPPORT GROWS FOR SUPERVISED SAFE INJECTION SITE

The chorus is growing louder in support of Victoria having its own
supervised safe injection site.

The latest prominent voice to join the chorus is Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s
provincial health officer.

Kendall argues a safe injection site would be an effective way of
addressing the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among Greater Victoria's many
intravenous drug users.

"There are quite a number of injection drug users in Victoria. The needle
exchange has about 2,000 registered customers at any one point in time,"
Kendall said this week.

A survey conducted two years ago revealed that up to 25 per cent of
intravenous drug users in the Capital Region were HIV positive, while the
rate of those who tested positive for hepatitis C is much higher, Kendall
pointed out.

"So clearly there a group with a strong potential for passing diseases
around," he said.

Kendall said the experience with the supervised injection site recently
established in Vancouver has shown positive results.

"It does prevent fatal overdoses and it does prevent unnecessary ambulance
calls for overdoses," he said.

As well, those who access the supervised injection site in Vancouver are
referred to addiction treatment, Kendall. The injection site on the Lower
Mainland has also resulted in a reduction in addicts shooting up in public
places, he said.

Kendall suspects the benefits of the Vancouver experience would translate
to Victoria.

Establishing an injection site here requires many steps, such as getting
the green light from Health Canada. The process would also involve looking
at whether it is better to have a single injection site or several spread
throughout the city.

Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill said law-enforcement issues would
also have to be debated.

"For example, nobody is going to be allowed to traffic in the doorway of
the place. But, on the other hand, if somebody possesses drugs that they're
going to use properly within the place, then there needs to be some
tolerance there," Battershill said.

Like Kendall, he is convinced that a supervised safe injection site would
go a long way toward preventing the spread of disease among intravenous
drug users in Victoria.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe is on record as supporting the establishment of a
supervised safe injection site in the city. And Victoria Coun. Rob Fleming
is also in favour of the idea.

"I'm pleased that the mayor is an admirer and supporter of it and that
there seems to be people from across the political spectrum and the
community with an interest at looking at it," Fleming said.

Fleming said it won't be easy getting permission from Health Canada for a
safe injection site. But Victoria could have a reasonably good shot at
having such a facility given the experience in Vancouver, he said.

It will be necessary to invest more money into existing services for
intravenous drug users, such as in rehabilitation and education, for a safe
injection site to be successful, he said.

"It all has to be done concurrently," he said.

Battershill said he's waiting to see a report on Vancouver's safe injection
site before he draws any final conclusions. But, so far, so good, he said.

"Generally, everything is pointing quite favourably towards it," he said.