Pubdate: Sun, 07 Aug 2005
Source: Ottawa X Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Ottawa X Press
Contact:  http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/330
Author: Julie Fortier
Note: Edited for Drug Policy Content

A ROUNDUP OF LOCAL NEWS

Amsterdam, Vancouver ... Ottawa? Dr. Lynne Leonard at the University of
Ottawa is finding herself in the spotlight as she prepares to head a study
looking at the possibility of a safe-injection site for the city.

Seems Ottawa has a drug problem, a big one. One-fifth of the city's addicts
are HIV-positive, and three-quarters have hepatitis C-the highest provincial
rates, according to Leonard, a research scientist and assistant professor of
community medicine at the university. There's anywhere from 3,500 to 5,500
intravenous drug users in Ottawa, she said. And every case of HIV costs the
taxpayer $150,000 in medical costs alone.

Even though the anti-drug measures the City is taking now obviously aren't
working, several councillors, including Rick Chiarelli, are already saying
they don't care what Leonard's report has to say, they will vote against it.

It's just a study, people! Just last month, a report on the Vancouver safe
injection site revealed that the most at-risk users for infection (young,
homeless, injection-drug users) were the very people using the program,
which protected hundreds of users from infection, overdoses or dying.
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