Pubdate: Sat, 02 Sep 2006
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2006 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Bill Cleverley, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

DECISION ON SAFE INJECTION SITE DELAYED

16-Month Reprieve

VICTORIA - Health Minister Tony Clement said yesterday any decision 
on the future of the Vancouver safe drug injection site has been put 
off until Dec. 31, 2007, a move that will keep the site open for 
another 16 months.

In a written statement, Mr. Clement said during that time additional 
studies will be conducted into how supervised injection sites affect 
crime, prevention and treatment.

"Do safe injection sites contribute to lowering drug use and fighting 
addiction? Right now the only thing the research to date has proven 
conclusively is drug addicts need more help to get off drugs," the 
Health Minister said.

"Given the need for more facts, I am unable to approve the current 
request to extend the Vancouver site for another 3 1/2 years," he said.

Canadian police officers are urging the federal government to cut all 
funding to the Vancouver site, which they say is a failed experiment 
that has displaced crime and has only given junkies a sense of entitlement.

Delegates to the Canadian Police Association convention in Victoria 
unanimously passed a resolution yesterday urging the government to 
"cease all financing of the supervised injection site program and 
invest in a national drug strategy to combat drug addiction which 
includes education, prevention and treatment."

At the Vancouver site in the city's gritty Downtown Eastside, drug 
users are provided clean equipment and supervised by medical 
personnel as they inject cocaine or heroin in an effort to combat the 
spread of HIV/AIDS and to prevent overdoses.

A three-year exemption from the federal government that allows the 
illegal drug use at the Vancouver injection site expires on Sept. 12.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, with the support of his police chief, Paul 
Battershill, has been lobbying for a similar site to be established 
in that city.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman