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." - ---