UN AGENCY SAYS VANCOUVER'S SAFE INJECTION SITE VIOLATES AGREEMENTS ON
CONTROLLING DRUG ABUSE

GENEVA (CP) - A UN organization has expressed concerns to Canada over
Vancouver's safe injection site for addicts, saying the approach
violates international agreements on ways to control drug abuse.

In a report released Wednesday, the International Narcotics Control
Board says the establishment of the drug-injection site in Vancouver
last year - the first in North America - "is not in line with the
international drug-control treaties to which Canada is a party."

The board is part of the UN International Drug Control Program based
in Vienna. It notes that governments have agreed to use prevention and
treatment to deal with drug abuse.

The report says the board has on numerous occasions spoken out against
the operation of drug injection rooms "where persons can inject drugs
acquired with impunity on the illicit market."

Herbert Schaepe, secretary of the board, says board members have
expressed concerns to the Canadian government, as well as several
European governments that have approved drug injection sites or are
thinking of establishing them.

"When drug abusers can acquire illicit drugs and can take these
illicit drugs into premises which are managed by the state or the
town, then there is definitely complicity and we cannot accept that
under the international drug control convention," he says.

Health Canada announced last June it would provide $1.5 million over
four years for the pilot project in Vancouver to determine whether a
supervised injection site can reduce harm to addicts and improve their
health prospects.

Schaepe dismisses arguments put forth by government authorities,
notably Switzerland, that rooms where heroin addicts can safely inject
themselves under medical supervision have reduced crime, improved the
lives of addicts and persuaded many to check into rehabilitation centres.

"We can achieve exactly the same through other methods," Schaepe
says. "We think that we should stick to the international conventions
which call for prevention and for treatment."

The report also calls cannabis "the most abused drug in North
America" and says it continues to be produced in large quantities in
Canada, the United States and Mexico.