SHOT IN DARK

Ontario health minister vows to fight safe sites for heroin users

Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement says he'll fight any attempt to push
for a safe-injection site for heroin users in Toronto.

A parliamentary committee recommended yesterday that the federal government
set up sites in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal where addicts can "safely"
shoot heroin.

"I'm quite frankly appalled," Clement said. "There's lots that we can do to
increase education, to increase awareness, to increase treatment, to
increase rehabilitation.

'DISREGARD THE LAW'

"And yet the first thing that this parliamentary committee does is say,
'Disregard the law, disregard what is ultimately good for the patient and
open up injection sites'," he said.

Health Canada has been pushing the idea at health ministers conferences,
Clement said.

"I don't think they have the authority to open up these sites and I
certainly will not cooperate with that," the health minister said.

Experiments with safe-injections sites in Europe have yielded very mixed
results, especially in the United Kingdom.

"The U.K. has the highest level of drug use in the European Union," Clement
said. "Look at the evidence and the evidence says don't do this."

The Liberal-dominated parliamentary committee, which spent 18 months and
$500,000 looking at this issue, made 39 recommendations including
safe-injection sites and needle-exchange programs in major cities and a
national drug strategy.

POSITIVE STEP

The MPs are also expected to call for more liberal marijuana laws when they
report again Thursday.

Councillor Jack Layton, a candidate for the federal NDP leadership, endorsed
the plan yesterday.

"To me, it would be a very positive forward step," Layton said.

He said there was a similar outcry when the city introduced a
needle-exchange program in 1988.

Layton, who was then chairman of the health board, said the exchange reduced
the transmission of HIV and hepatitis and has brought drug users in contact
with medical and social workers.

But Councillor Doug Holyday said the proposal would simply draw drug users
from across Ontario to Toronto.

"If you're going to start providing sites and material for these people,
you're going to attract them," Holyday said.

Holyday said governments should focus on tougher enforcement for drug
dealers and treatment for those with addictions.