U.S. DRUG CHIEF WARNS AGAINST INJECTION SITES FOR ADDICTS

VANCOUVER -- U.S. drug czar John Walters warned yesterday that supervised
centres for addicts to inject heroin may save some lives but also may lead
to more drug users and casualties.

Stepping gingerly into one of the most contentious issues in the city of
Vancouver, the director of the White House office of national drug control
policy said during a visit to the city he was not telling Canada what the
country should do.

"But the issue is, why not save people from the fatal disease of addiction
and not just from the fatal opportunity for overdose," Mr. Walters said.

Limited resources should be used to make people well, he told reporters
after speaking at a luncheon to a group of municipal politicians, police
from the city's drug-infested Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, business
people and marijuana activists.

"We want to make people well and I do not believe, if you look at reality,
that you get to where you want to be by allowing people to continue in
their addiction."

Health Minister Anne McLellan has announced that by the end of the year,
municipalities will be allowed to apply for approval to establish safe
injection sites as research projects.

Despite a private meeting with the U.S. drug czar, outgoing Vancouver Mayor
Philip Owen said he remained convinced that supervised injection centres
should be available in the city.

Mr. Owen has spearheaded the drive for a national drug strategy that
includes safe injection centres. His successor, Larry Campbell, who takes
over as mayor in two weeks, was elected on a platform that included a
strong commitment to open supervised centres for addicts.

Safe injection sites could help bring treatment to addicts who inject drugs
on the street, Mr. Owen said. "The status quo is not working. Let's
implement this, try it and see if it works. If it doesn't work, we can
change it."

Mr. Walters was in Vancouver to discuss tighter enforcement of drug laws
and tougher security measures at the Canada-U.S. border. He said he has
been discussing measures to curtail the flow of marijuana from Canada to
the United States and of cocaine in the opposite direction.

The RCMP say 95 per cent of British Columbia's $6-billion marijuana crop is
shipped into the United States, Mr. Walters said.

His speech was interrupted repeatedly by marijuana activists at the
luncheon, who booed and shouted. Speaking over the protesters, he said he
did not support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes because
scientific research has not shown that the drug is effective.