Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON) Copyright: 2008 Metro Contact: http://www.metronews.ca/home.aspx?city=ottawa Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032 Author: Tracey Tong Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) INJECTION SITE ALLIES PLEAD CASE Ottawa's needle exchange program addresses the spread of communicable diseases, but a supervised injection site here could help reduce deaths due to drug overdose, a man who helped start Australia's first such program said yesterday. "Nobody was there," said Tony Trimingham, whose son Damien, 23, died alone in a stairwell from a heroin overdose in 1997. Trimingham was guest speaker last night at an information session at the Ottawa Public Library -- the first of three on a tour by injection site supporters that also includes Montreal and Toronto. Along with other affected families, Trimingham opened an illegal injection site in a church and, in 2000, he helped open Australia's first legal site in Sydney. Today, it is one of 50 around the world. "The purpose of a supervised injection site is not to prolong drug use," he said. "It's to keep people alive until they can make a decision to give it up. Overdoses are reversible if people act quickly." Injection sites for addicts are controversial locally and across Canada these days, after the B.C. Supreme Court recently ruled that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is inconsistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in regards to InSite, Vancouver's supervised injection site. Site supporters are on a public education tour to move the issue forward, said Liz Evans, the founder of the organization. Evans, who was educated in Ottawa, said more than a million injections have taken place at the site since it opened in 2003 and not one of them has resulted in a death. "I think it's up to a local community whether they have supervised injection sites," said event organizer Nathan Allen. "If a community decides they need a safe injection site, then they should be able to do that." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom