Pubdate: Fri, 02 Nov 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 Author: Michelle Lalonde Page: A7 FEARS OVER SAFE INJECTION SITES UNFOUNDED, SAY ADVOCATES FOR USERS A group representing street drug users says it's time for Montreal to open safe drug injection sites in neighbourhoods where drug use is rampant, even if neighbours don't agree. "It's normal for people to have some fears, but when you know the facts (you realize) it's logical to have safe injection sites," said Alexandra de Kiewit, a member of ADDICQ-Montreal, a project devoted to improving the health of drug users. De Kiewit was speaking to reporters Thursday at a news conference under the Jacques Cartier Bridge, which she said is symbolic of the kinds of places where drug users shoot up. She said fears that setting up indoor injection centres will increase drug use or increase crime rates in neighbourhoods have not been supported by studies on safe drug injection sites in other cities, such as Vancouver. Safe injection sites get drug users off the street, reduce the number of contaminated needles discarded in public places, reduce the dangerous practice of sharing needles and put drug users in contact with the health system. De Kiewit said it is a matter of life and death, and the establishment of these centres should not have to wait until every single person in a neighbourhood is persuaded it is necessary. She would not say where the group proposes to set up the centres, although somewhere downtown is an obvious choice. "We are talking about putting safe injection sites in places which already hand out clean needles and give other services to drug users," she said. A report released last year by Montreal's public health department pointed to an "epidemic" of HIV and hepatitis C infections as well as overdose deaths among drug users in Montreal, and recommended the establishment of safe injection sites as soon as possible. According to a long-term study of Montreal-area drug users by the health department and a community group called SurvUDI, 18 per cent of local injection drug users are infected with HIV and 68 per cent with hepatitis C. According to the same study, about 26 per cent of drug users surveyed in 2007 had shared a needle in the previous six months, although that number had gone down significantly since 1995, when it was 45 per cent. Death by drug overdose is a growing problem in Montreal, according to that report. Between 2006 and 2009, an average of 72 people per year died from drug overdose, up from an average of 51 per year between 2000 and 2005. The public health department also notes that the mortality rate among street youth in this city is 11 times higher than other young people of the same age (14 to 25). Former Liberal health minister Yves Bolduc scrapped a pilot project for a safe injection site in Montreal in 2008 after first committing to the idea. At that time, the Parti Quebecois lambasted Bolduc, with Bernard Drainville, health critic at the time, calling the decision ignorant and not based on science or facts. But representatives of ADDICQ-Montreal said Thursday they expect the PQ to follow through and restart the pilot project. "I'm really optimistic because the new government has already said it is in favour of safe injection facilities," de Kiewit said. Calls to the health department by The Gazette were not returned Thursday. Peter Sergakis, who heads the downtown merchant's group L'association des proprietaires de bA"timents commerciaux du Quebec, said he has some misgivings about the idea of an injection site. "You have to wonder if there will be more (drug use) if you give them a nice private place to go," he said in a telephone interview. "But for sure we have to do something, because right now you see them shooting up everywhere, on the streets, doorways, all over downtown, especially around St. Hubert and Ste. Catherine St. It's not good for tourism; it's not a great image for the city." He acknowledged that getting drug users off the street, and in contact with health workers, would be a good thing. "There have to be parameters, so that they aren't hanging around outside the centres ... but we can't leave things the way they are now with people spreading disease and getting killed." To read what ADDICQ-Montreal has to say about safe injection sites, go to www.bit.ly/X4Awlc . - --- MAP posted-by: Matt