VANCOUVER'S SAFE INJECTION SITE CRITICIZED BY UN GROUP

GENEVA -- 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 today, 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.