ADDICTS GIVEN SAFE INJECTION SITE

Vancouver Pioneers Movement to Give Public Safe, Clean Place to Use
Drugs

While some of its potential clients huddled nearby, North America's
first authorized drug-injection site had its long-awaited official
opening yesterday.

Vancouver's so-called safe-injection site won't be open to addicts for
a week or so, but its political backers greeted the move with whoops
and cheers.

But there were also emotional memories of addicts killed by overdoses
and disease caused by drug use.

"The first thing that went through my head is the huge number of
people that have died and the number that I saw and had to deal with
their families," said Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell.

As city coroner, Campbell was often called to the poverty-stricken
Downtown Eastside, where a vacant building has now been renovated to
house the new safe-injection site.

The controversial government-funded project, which will give users
injection kits and allow them to shoot up inside under nurse
supervision, won't end addiction, said Campbell, but he predicted it
will soon make a visible difference.

"Most importantly, we won't have to take people out of these hotels
time and time again," said Campbell, referring to the run-down
buildings that dot the crumbling neighbourhood.

Thirty-seven people have died already from overdoses in Vancouver this
year, he said.

Drug users sometimes will use dirty needles and water from puddles to
shoot up. Now, addicts wanting to use the new facility will be ushered
into a brightly lit room lined on one side by open, mirrored booths
where they can inject drugs.

After finishing, they will be taken to a "chill out room," where they
can receive counselling and peer referrals.

Yesterday morning, knots of raggedly dressed people huddled at a
street corner just metres from the new site.

One longtime drug user said he hoped the pilot project would make a
difference in his neighbourhood.

Steven Bannon, 43, said he knows too many people who have died from
diseases acquired through drug use.

"A person who chooses to use the injection site, the main thing, I
think, is less risk of HIV," said the soft-spoken man.

Melody Kitchener, 41, said she would be comfortable using the
injection site.

"I've used on the street, but I don't like to," said Kitchener, who
has been using drugs for 28 years. "You know what they say, it's not a
good idea to use alone."

Not everyone was celebrating the site's opening yesterday.

The pilot project represents the wrong approach to combating
addiction, said Canadian Alliance MP Randy White.

"The priority (is) to get people off drugs, not keep people on
drugs," said White. "Every cent we spend away from that objective is
money wasted."

Health Canada has committed $1.5 million to pay for research during
the pilot project and the B.C. government will also give $2 million to
help cover costs. Another $1.2 million from B.C. went toward
renovation costs.

But that money is just going toward creating a legal zone for drugs,
said White.

"If somebody suggests this will get people off drugs or prevent HIV,
that is not the case," he said.

Concerns have also been raised about whether a police presence in the
area will scare off potential users.

Yesterday morning, two officers stood across the street from the
injection site.

Officers would be working in the general area and want to facilitate
addicts being able to use the injection site, said city police Chief
Jamie Graham.

But the street in front of the injection site will not be a "bubble
zone" for drug dealers, he said.

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

"The site will not be a sanctuary for anyone (who is the) subject of
an arrest warrant or someone who is or was engaged in criminal activity.

"Routine visits by other police officers to the site are not
envisioned at this time as we accept that a reasonable degree of
comfort must be developed."

Standing with other drug-users outside the site, Bannon said he didn't
think a police presence would drive off many people.

"Some might see it that way," he said. "I don't see it that way."