MAYORS DIFFER ON CALLS FOR SAFE INJECTION SITES

The issue of introducing community safe injection sites to combat Lower
Mainland drug addiction has several of the region's mayors voicing
differing views.

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell has vowed to introduce a safe injection site
in Vancouver before March 1, and has indicated other municipalities should
take responsibility for treating drug addicts in their own communities.

While the mayors of Burnaby and Delta point to a lack of demand to justify
programs outside Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Coquitlam Mayor Jon
Kingsbury claims the drug addiction problem is just as severe on the city
outskirts.

"If people do not think it is a big problem in the suburbs, then they are
not very well informed," Kingsbury said.

"They perhaps just haven't been exposed to the problems. It's in Delta,
Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam - everywhere. It's no less of a problem in the
suburbs, it just doesn't get the same publicity."

Kingsbury's comments go against the views of Delta Mayor Lois Jackson and
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, who both believe the idea to expand the
program outside Vancouver is a non-starter.

They say there is no demand for the services as there are few drug addicts
in their communities, with the majority having already moved to Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside. They also doubt whether addicts will be willing to
relocate into different parts of the Lower Mainland.

Jackson - a member of Delta's police board - said to her knowledge, nobody
had been taken off the streets in Delta for injecting drugs.

She says Lower Mainland sites will not work, as addicts tend to stick
together and base themselves in one area. She believes it is "unlikely "
they will shift from the east side of Vancouver.

Jackson also said she could not support a "transfer of health dollars" she
said could occur from funding injection facilities, pointing to planned
service cuts in Delta Hospital's emergency room.

"There is only so much money to go around. As much as my heart goes out to
them (drug addicts), we can't be all things to all people. They also have
to take the initiative themselves," she said.

Meanwhile, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has dismissed any chance of a safe
injection site being introduced in Surrey, saying his municipality favours
rehabilitation and detox.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said the issue of safe-injection sites has not
been discussed at council, mainly because there is "not a significant
problem" with hard drug users in Burnaby.

However, he accepts that some Burnaby-based addicts are attracted to the
Downtown Eastside, believing they "have a tendency to go where the drugs are."

Corrigan wants to see proof the Vancouver plan works before there is any
move to introduce others in the region.

Kingsbury, Jackson and Corrigan were commenting on a poll that splits the
public 50-50 on the issue of safe injection sites in the Lower Mainland
outside Vancouver.

The poll - conducted by a regional daily newspaper and market research
company Ipsos-Reid - concluded that half of those questioned either
strongly support or somewhat support introducing the sites into local
communities.

However, McCallum says the position in Surrey is much more clear cut.

"I would suspect there is an overwhelming (public) objection to that type
of concept," he said.

"We won't be having any safe-injection sites in Surrey. We (Surrey council)
have said that many times in the past and we certainly haven't changed out
minds."

McCallum points to a proposed drug recovery centre, planned for a location
beside Surrey Memorial Hospital, as the type of project which should be
supported in Surrey.

Kingsbury said a safe injection site was pulled from Coquitlam six months
ago after he said the public found used needles, seemingly from drug users,
outside the monitored area.

And while not directly coming out in support of safe injection sites, he
said this illustrated a need for some kind of drug action, providing it is
run in a "safe and controlled environment."

The theory behind safe injection sites is that by using clean needles in a
supervised environment, addicts are less likely to suffer health problems.
The sites act as a first step to detox, pulling addicts off the streets and
away from dealers, and giving them access to nurses and counsellors.

As well as finding a 50-50 split of public opinion on Lower Mainland
injection areas, the poll found that if a decision were made to introduce
the facilities, 40 per cent of people would be in favour of multiple sites
across the region, 19 per cent would support a single site in in the
Downtown Eastside, 13 per cent would support multiple sites in the Downtown
Eastside and 10 per cent would support multiple sites in and around the
City of Vancouver.

The poll, conducted between Dec. 2 and 9, questioned 800 B.C. adults.
Organizers say the results are within 3.5 per cent of what could be
expected from the whole B.C. population being polled.