OTTAWA OPENS DOOR TO SAFE INJECTION SITES

Proposals from cities expected by end of year, says Health Canada

MONTREAL - Health Canada is reviewing the criteria for safe injection sites
for drug addicts and will be ready to accept proposals from interested
cities by the end of this year.

The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act has already been reviewed to ensure
there is no legal impediment to creating centres where intravenous drug
users could safely inject their drugs.

The ministry is now shaping the guidelines under which cities could make
proposals to open a safe injection centre, Farah Mohamed, a spokesperson for
Health Minister Anne McLellan, said yesterday.

"We're in the process," Mohamed said.

"The minister, by the end of this year, will be able to accept proposals
(from individual cities)."

It would take 60 days for Health Canada to review each proposal, Mohamed
said.

Upon approval, the city would be free to establish a safe injection centre.

A safe injection site differs from a needle-exchange centre in that it would
provide intravenous drug users with trained medical professionals to monitor
the injection of drugs.

A report in Montreal's Le Devoir yesterday said Health Canada would not play
a role in funding the injection sites.

But Mohamed said no decision has been made. "There's been some people saying
they think Health Canada should fund it, but we're not at that stage yet to
even determine the amounts of money it would cost," she said.

Any decision on funding would come only when a prospective safe injection
site was identified.

One person who feels Health Canada needs to play some role in paying for the
sites is Ralf Jurgens, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal
Network.

"Health Canada needs to at least co-fund these safe injection facilities,"
he said.

The legal network completed a report in April calling for the creation of
trial safe-injection sites and citing a Canadian Medical Association Journal
article from August, 2001, that supports its position.

"Supervised injection rooms are a logical next step," the article stated,
"one that combines the merits of realism and compassion."

There are 125,000 intravenous drug users in Canada, according to the
HIV/AIDS legal network, and Jurgens said these people are at a high risk of
exposure to hepatitis C, HIV and overdoses.

"Safe injection facilities help address those issues," Jurgens said.

He believes trial safe injection sites should begin in Vancouver, Montreal
and Toronto, adding that other cities such as Edmonton and Quebec City have
shown interest.

The legal network report also quotes a 1998 study that estimated the direct
and indirect costs of HIV and AIDS attributed to intravenous drug use in
Canada would amount to $8.7 billion over six years if current trends
continue.