EXPERTS DEBATE INJECTION SITE FOR ADDICTS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- David Lands walked into the upscale
office building, checked in with the receptionist and headed inside,
to shoot heroin and cocaine into his veins. The frail Lands was one of
the first addicts to use North America's only government-sponsored
safe injection site, which opened in September as a trial project in a
seamy downtown neighborhood known for junkies and prostitutes.

"They should have more places like this," Lands said, holding two
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches provided by the staff at the Insite
clinic as he recovered from his heroin and cocaine speedball. "You'd
find less people in the alleys that have overdosed."

Critics disagree, predicting that the provision of a legal place for
addicts to shoot up will only lead to more drug use. John P. Walters,
chief of the U.S.-anti drug effort, called Insite "state-sponsored
suicide."

Those who are using the clinic believe the opposite.

Lands, a 32-year-old who has been addicted to heroin since 1997, said
junkies can end up injured or dead from robbers or overdosing when
they use drugs in alleys and other out-of-the-way spots.

"If you overdose, they help you here," he said. "Not in the alleys.
They don't care."

A 39-year-old construction worker, who would identify himself only as
Joe, agreed that Insite is safer.

"I was in an alley shooting up and two guys stuck a knife in my
throat," he said, describing a robbery of his drugs. "They would have
killed me if I hadn't given it up."

Similar clinics operate in Zurich, Switzerland; Frankfurt, Germany;
and Sydney, Australia. Canada's federal government has committed $1.2
million for research during the one-year pilot project at Insite,
while British Columbia is paying $2.4 million in costs.

Mayor Larry Campbell, a former police office and coroner, won election
last year pledging to establish safe injection sites in Vancouver as
part of a "four pillar" drug policy involving treatment, prevention,
harm reduction and enforcement.

He says Insite is a vital part of efforts to reduce overdose deaths
and the spread of AIDS and hepatitis C and to provide primary health
care to drug users.

The World Health Organization has singled out Vancouver for a high HIV
infection rate in a wealthy, Western city. According to the British
Columbia Center for Disease Control, more than 30 percent of the
area's addicts are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS, and the
city already was handing out needles to addicts in an anti-infection
program. Joanne Csete, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch, praised the
opening of Insite as essential to helping users avoid overdoses and
infection while exposing them to help toward kicking the habit.

"It's certainly a step forward," she said. "We hope they will continue
to respect this as a part of essential humane services for drug users."

The clinic is exempt from Canadian drug laws, allowing the addicts to
posses heroin and cocaine inside. Such an exemption can be made for
medical or scientific reasons, or if in the public interest.

Lands and Joe said Insite requires addicts to bring their own drugs.
The clinic provides a bowl containing a needle, a "cooker" and matches
to heat up the drugs, and an antiseptic swab.

Junkies using Insite's facilities have their backs to nurses when
shooting up, but they are monitored by mirrors in the 12 injection
booths, the two men said. Nurses show those who ask how to inject
safely, but otherwise have no direct role in the process, they said.

After injecting, users are monitored in a "chill-out room" - where
Lands got his sandwiches - before leaving. They also can get help if
they want to kick their habits.

Vivianna Zanocco of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which runs
the clinic with a local advocacy group, said smoking marijuana or
crack cocaine inside is prohibited.

She added that worries about drug dealers congregating around the site
have proved unfounded.

Police officers maintain a low profile outside, permitting addicts to
enter the clinic with their drugs.

"It is not the police intention to intervene or interfere with anyone
entering the site, unless there is a lawful reason to do so," Police
Chief Jamie Graham said.