VANCOUVER DRUG FACILITIES DRAW IRE OF U.S. OFFICIALS

Angering U.S. officials fighting the war on drugs , the Canadian city of
Vancouver, British Columbia, is opening North America's first
safe-injection sites for heroin users.

Backers insist it's better to treat drug addiction as a public-health issue
rather than a criminal matter. Emulating European countries such as
Switzerland and the Netherlands, where such sites have existed for more
than a decade, health workers and politicians say they aim to stop the
spread of HIV and Hepatitis C from intravenous drug use and to curb the
number of heroin deaths.

"If I thought tripling the police force would solve this problem, I would
do it," says Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who was previously British
Columbia's chief coroner. "But that's not the case. We're dealing with
addiction and disease. And prison doesn't solve either of those problems."

One supervised site is already operating at a clinic that treats people
with HIV and AIDS. Officials in the West Coast port city, located north of
Seattle, say they hope to have a second safe-injection site running by summer.

Critics, including U.S. drug czar John Walters, warn the sites will
encourage heroin addiction and worsen the city's drug problem. Mr. Walters
has called Vancouver's safe-injection sites "state-sponsored personal suicide."

The Bush administration already is fuming over Canadian government moves
that allow some chronically ill people to smoke marijuana legally. Mr.
Walters says the U.S. administration has increasing concerns about "Canada
becoming a major drug producer." While exact figures are hard to come by,
some police groups estimate more than $10 billion a year of illegal drugs
- -- mostly marijuana -- enters the U.S. from Canada.

Vancouver has one of North America's worst drug problems. City officials
estimate there are 12,000 intravenous drug users among the 1.3 million
people in the greater Vancouver area. About 40% of the drug users have HIV
or AIDS, and 90% have Hepatitis C, which attacks the liver. Since 1993,
2,000 people have died from drug overdoses on the city's streets. Addicts
congregate in the downtown eastside, a 12-block area whose main
intersection, Main Street and Hastings Street, is called "pain and
wasting," by locals.

For years, officials tackled the drug problem as a criminal issue. Since
1997, annual arrests for drug offenses in Vancouver have risen 79%,
according to police. While the number of people contracting HIV in
Vancouver has been cut in half since 1993, the city today averages about
250 new HIV infections a year, the highest rate among Canadian cities.
Hepatitis C infections and heroin deaths remain high.

In 2000, then-mayor Philip Owen, championed the idea of treating drug
addiction as a public-health issue. His office devised a strategy that
emphasized "harm reduction" as well as law enforcement, and pushed
methadone clinics, needle exchanges and safe-injection sites.

In April 2002, the Dr. Peter Centre, a publicly supported HIV/AIDS
treatment clinic, started running a safe-injection site for drug-addicted
patients with HIV and AIDS. Addicts are given clean needles, tourniquets,
water and cotton balls. A nurse supervises them. Referrals to detox centers
and homeless shelters are given.

The center has applied to Canada's government for a special exemption that
would allow it to have illicit narcotics on its premises. Until it gets an
exemption, expected by summer, the safe-injection site is illegal. But
Vancouver's police department, which supports safe-injection sites, has
told the center's operators it won't take action against them.

The Portland Hotel Society, a publicly funded outreach program that
provides housing and medical services in Vancouver's downtown eastside,
spent $20,000 in October remodeling a vacant store into a safe-injection
site. The site will be staffed by nurses and have eight injection booths
and an emergency room where people can be treated for drug overdoses.
Officials at the society say they're waiting for an exemption from the
federal government before opening the site, but expect to be operating by
summer.

Canada's Health Ministry has said it's willing to allow safe-injection
sites as "pilot projects," provided scientific research is conducted to
determine their effectiveness. Safe-injection sites have produced mixed
results in Europe.

A recent poll showed 71% of Vancouver residents support such sites. Critics
say they set a dangerous precedent. Randy White, justice critic for the
Canadian Alliance federal political party, says safe-injection sites result
in "harm extension." He adds that safe-injection sites are "a magnet" for
addicts looking to use drugs without threat of prosecution.