Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Mike Howell, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

GREEN ADVOCATES SECOND SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE

If Jim Green becomes the city's next mayor, he will consider pushing
for another supervised injection site to complement the existing
two-year-old site in the Downtown Eastside.

Green said evaluations of Insite at 139 East Hastings indicate the
facility has reduced the number of addicts shooting up in public,
reduced needle sharing and saved lives.

"It's really showed its worth," said Green, a city councillor running
for mayor under the Vision Vancouver banner. "When we had this
epidemic of killer heroin on the street [last month], you had the
police on the radio and everywhere telling any users to go to the safe
injection site to save their lives."

Green said the city's new council, which will be elected Nov. 19, must
continue pursuing treatment options for addicts and education programs
that keep people from becoming addicts.

Though the injection site allows addicts to inject safely, Green
believes the facility is a "gateway" to other services. According to
Vancouver Coastal Health, staff at Insite refer four addicts a day to
addiction treatment and more than two per week to a methadone program.

"I don't want people shooting up heroin and smoking crack, I want them
to get treatment, I want them to get what they need, I want them to
have an economic opportunity to get a job," Green said.

Green's comments come as Insite celebrates its second-year anniversary
as North America's only legalized supervised injection site. It will
remain open for at least one more year under Health Canada's approval
to run a three-year pilot project.

Health Canada must decide whether to extend the project next year. If
it does, the provincial government will likely supply the $2 million a
year to run the site.

Green said he was unclear whether the new council will have the power
to shut down the site. He pointed out, however, that NPA mayoral
hopeful Sam Sullivan has threatened to kill the Woodward's project if
he becomes mayor.

"I'm sure if [an NPA-dominated council] said they didn't want the
injection site here, the federal government-who is behind it-would
say, 'Fine, we're out of there,'" he said. "It's a very good question
because in a debate the other night about Woodward's [development],
Sam threatened to kill the project if he's elected mayor."

Clark told the Courier that if she becomes mayor, she wouldn't close
the site "if it's working."

She released part of her platform this week, adding that the city's
Four Pillars drug strategy "is not a monument to admire; it's a work
in progress" and that she would put more emphasis on
enforcement.

Donald Macpherson, the city's drug policy coordinator, said he doubted
a request for the extension of the operation of Insite would go before
council.

Macpherson said normally, if a facility is operating without problems,
the city's planning department would recommend it be continued. He
noted city council approved a three-year permit to open the site.

"So far, from what we've heard from the community, is that generally
things are working very well, and there has not been the disorder and
chaos that people had predicted or feared," he said.

Macpherson said homelessness and the open-air drug market in the
Downtown Eastside should be of more concern for the incoming council.

"I would hope we would try and move on to try and address those things
rather than making something which has been running quite smoothly
into a controversial issue."

Added Macpherson: "I don't think there would be a whole lot of political
mileage in closing [Insite] down. I think the political mileage to be made
is in addressing the other issues."
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