Pubdate: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Note: Don Butler and Tom Blackwell contributed to this report GROUPS MUST APPLY FOR SAFE-INJECTION SITES Minister Waiting To See Applications Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc is waiting for plans from community groups before deciding whether to go ahead with supervised injection sites (SIS) in areas where intravenous drug use is rampant, his press attache said Wednesday. "The minister has said he supports these sites in conformity with the Supreme Court judgment," said Natacha Joncas Boudreau. She was alluding to the decision by Canada's highest court last September that found that an attempt by the federal government to shut down Vancouver's Insite clinic - North America's only nurse-supervised injection site - violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On Wednesday, researchers at the University of Toronto recommended the creation of two supervised injection facilities in Ottawa and three in Toronto. They concluded that such "facilities are likely to represent good investments in health-care dollars" because they would improve the health of drug users and reduce the risk that they might contract HIV and hepatitis by using dirty needles. In December, Montreal's public health department released a report strongly in favour of establishing three supervised-injection sites and a mobile one this year. The report recommended that fixed sites be set up in Hochelaga-maisonneuve, downtown and in an area near St. Urbain and Prince Arthur Sts. The mobile unit would move around St. Henri and the city's southwest sector. "The minister has met with community groups and public health," Joncas Boudreau said. "It's the community groups that must submit their projects to the minister, who will decide whether they are in conformity with the Supreme Court ruling," she said. Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay has repeatedly stated that any downtown site should be located in an existing medical facility, but residents have complained that it would add to the number of people seeking help for addiction. In a city meeting in February, representatives of Cactus, a free needle-exchange service, argued that an SIS be set up at Cactus's current address on Sanguinet St. Louis Letellier de St. Just, president of Cactus, said his centre has plans for six cubicles to provide as many as 100 nurse-supervised injections a day. It's not clear whether Cactus has submitted its plans yet to the Health Department. De St. Just was unavailable for comment. Don Butler and Tom Blackwell contributed to this report - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D