Pubdate: Sun, 10 Nov 2002
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2002 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Arpon Basu, Canadian Press

SAFE-INJECTION SITES TO GET FEDERAL OK

Health Canada Will Accept Proposals From Cities to Aid Drug Users

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)."

Mohamed said it would take 60 days for Health Canada to review each 
proposal. Upon approval, the city would be free to establish a 
safe-injection centre.

Since proposals will be welcomed by the end of this year, that opens the 
door for Canada's first federally approved injection site sometime in 2003. 
A report in Montreal 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, adding that a decision on funding would come only 
when a prospective safe-injection site is 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 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." 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.

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. 
"Governments have not done enough to prevent the spread of these infections 
among drug users."

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.
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