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. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman