VANCOUVER INJECTION CLINIC OPENS FOR ADDICTS

VANCOUVER -- With the kind of hype normally reserved for a Hollywood
movie premiere, Vancouver has opened North America's first legal
shooting gallery for drug addicts.

Politicians from every level joined police and civic activists
yesterday morning at a tastefully restored storefront on Vancouver's
seamy East Hastings Street. The turn-of-the century building has been
transformed into a clinic where addicts can use illegal intravenous
drugs in a medically supervised setting.

And it is quite a setting. Airy and modern, with individual cubicles
discreetly divided for privacy, the clinic seems worlds away from the
grimy streets just outside its front door.

Were it not for trays of needles and tourniquets at each seat, the
spacious clinic, complete with snack bar and original artwork, could
pass for an upscale salon or spa.

Yesterday's ceremony was organized to give the media a chance to see
the clinic before it opens to addicts. Once drug users start coming
in, public access will be cut off.

The clinic is a significant victory for Mayor Larry Campbell, who
promised to reform Vancouver's drug policies in his mayoral campaign
last year. After winning the election, he lobbied federal health
officials and a reluctant local police department to support the pilot
project.

Yesterday's opening was also a vindication for former mayor Philip
Owen, whose party turned on him when he warmed to the plan.

Both men attended the opening.

Mr. Campbell, a former coroner, promised that the clinic, over time,
will improve the lives of addicts in the troubled neighbourhood.

"You're not going to see a magical change in the Downtown Eastside,"
he told the crowd. "But over a period of time you will see a change.
And over a period of time you will see health start to return."

He said the clinic alone will not solve the drug problems in the
Downtown Eastside, but it gives medical staff a chance to talk to
addicts one-on-one.

"We are never, ever going to cure drug addiction. Never. But what we
can do is help those who have that addiction to stay alive and stay
healthy until we can help them get into some sort of treatment," Mr.
Campbell said.

The clinic will be open seven days a week, 18 hours a day. It will not
provide drugs, but staff will show users how to inject an intravenous
drug safely.

There's also a treatment room where wounds and infections can be
tended to.

Drug addict Dean Wilson, who hounded local politicians for years to
approve a clinic, warned guests not to be fooled by the inviting
surroundings. The people who use the site, he said, will not be
enjoying themselves. "This is really serious business down here," Mr.
Wilson said. "This is not fun drug-taking. This is just a really
shitty way to live, excuse my language."

And taking aim at critics who say the clinic condones drug use, Mr.
Wilson said: "Nobody supports addiction. I've been an addict all my
life and if anybody thinks it's a lifestyle choice, well, there's the
exit sign."

The clinic is the only place in North America where addicts can use
illicit narcotics without fear of arrest. Municipal, provincial and
federal governments have all signed on to the pilot project, as has
the Vancouver Police Department.