ADDICTS' SECRET HAVEN

Staff Of Safe Injection Site Say Cops 'Looking To Find Us'

An underground needle exchange program and "safe injection site" for IV
drug-users has been operating out of a secret North End location for more
than a year.

And even though administrators say they offer the potential for
rehabilitation, they're also worried it won't be long before police try to
shut them down.

"We have some very exuberant members of the Winnipeg police force looking
to find us," said Holly Bertram, one of the driving forces behind the site.
"Police are not friendly to harm-reduction models ... they have this
attitude that people shouldn't do drugs, and the best way to get them off
drugs is to arrest them."

Like Palliative Care

The safe site is run like a palliative care unit or dialysis clinic,
Bertram said, with a volunteer staff of doctors, nurses and social workers
on hand to deal with any emergencies that may arise.

There's no laboratory on site, and no drugs are provided, but clients'
stashes are pre-screened so staff know exactly what they're dealing with.

The clients themselves are also screened, and are sworn to secrecy about
the site's location.

"Our people understand that if they jeopardize the site, they jeopardize
our ability to help them," Bertram said.

Staff try to establish a rapport with clients in the hopes of helping them
"return to the mainstream," she said.

"The only way they're going to be able to rehabilitate is if they're in
contact with the mainstream, and we are the mainstream," she said.
"Rehabilitation is a potential secondary opportunity, but you're not going
to have the secondary opportunity if you don't have the primary contact."

Winnipeg Police vice division Insp. Stan Tataryn isn't so sure.

"We appreciate the perils of needle sharing ... but we believe in process,"
he said. "Until these sites are sanctioned or made legal and are supervised
in the proper manner, we can't condone them."

But Tataryn denied police are actively seeking out the site.

"We've got limited resources," he said. "Trying to chase down drug addicts
as they're shooting up is not a priority for us ... we'd rather go after
the people who are selling drugs."

Dr. Margaret Fast, medical officer of health for the Winnipeg Regional
Health Authority, said the safe injection site isn't in competition with
existing needle exchange programs.

"From the published material I've read, it would appear that having sites
like these do provide some additional benefits," Fast said.

Bertram decided to go public with news of the site's existence after the
Montreal-based Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network released a report calling
for trials of safe injection facilities.