NORTH AMERICA'S 1ST SAFE-DRUG SITE OPENS

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

The 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 was 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.