CITY CELEBRATES LAUNCH OF CENTRE FOR DRUG ADDICTS

VANCOUVER -- A controversial drop-in centre for drug addicts opened with a
jubilant launch party yesterday in the heart of Vancouver's drug area.

The centre's entrance is in an alley off Hastings Street usually populated
by people shooting up or smoking up.

But yesterday, a crowd of politicians, musicians, police, community
activists, drug users and health bureaucrats gathered for a ceremony to
mark the beginning of what is hoped to be a new, comprehensive approach to
drug-addiction treatment in the area.

"If we can save the life of one individual, this building is a success,"
said Earl Crow, until recently the president of the Vancouver Area Network
of Drug Users. "It will be a welcoming centre for people."

Mayor Philip Owen, who has led a campaign to create a new approach to the
city's drug problem, called the centre opening an important first step in
an arduous process of change.

"We have a long journey ahead of us," he said.

In addition to the new drop-in centre on the ground floor of the Roosevelt
Hotel near Main and Hastings Streets -- officially the Health Contact
Centre -- there will eventually be two other health clinics and a
life-skills centre in the area run by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

There will be no drug use allowed in the centre, and there will be no
needle exchange.

The four health facilities are supposed to be part of a continuum of care
that will lead people to detox and treatment or, failing that, at least to
less disease, overdosing and homelessness.

Deputy police chief Gary Greer wholeheartedly endorsed the centre.

He said he believes that once addicts can go to the centre, they will not
only get the health care they need, but also the whole area will improve.
"That kind of behaviour will be removed from the street, people will feel
safer and, eventually, we believe it will reduce property crime," he said.