OTTAWA CONSIDERS NEW HOUSING FOR DRUG USERS

The federal government is looking for new types of subsidized housing for
drug users and alcoholics -- housing that could include safe-injection
sites.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the government's housing agency, is
launching a study to look at alternative residential programs for substance
users who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

"We want to look at that population and how people are already helping them,
or the kinds of cutting-edge ideas on how we can best create long-term
housing for this group,'' senior policy researcher Jim Zamprelli said.

While there are already many shelters for the homeless across the country,
most will only admit people who are not drunk or high on drugs.

The new federal initiative, which focuses on the concept of harm reduction,
is aimed at helping addicts get a roof over their heads without having to
quit immediately.

"Harm reduction, at least theoretically, would create an environment which
doesn't bar (substance users) and recognizes that at this point maybe
complete abstinence is not the answer,'' Zamprelli said.

The new housing could include rooms where junkies could inject drugs in a
supervised environment -- similar to the safe-injection site that opened
last month in Vancouver, he said.

Vancouver's centre gives drug users clean injection kits and allows them to
shoot up under nurse supervision.

The centre is aimed at preventing overdoses along with the transmission of
disease that can occur when needles are shared. After finishing, the drug
users are taken to a "chill-out room'' where they can receive counselling.

It is that kind of gradual withdrawal from drugs and alcohol, along with
counselling, that may work well in a residential setting, Zamprelli said.

But the idea of using taxpayer money to house active drug users does not sit
well with Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, who argues that making life more
comfortable for junkies will only allow them to keep using.