North America's 1st Safe Injection Site For Heroin Users.....

[Suga Foot]

Vancouver community groups offers tour of pilot safe injection site
 
GREG JOYCE  
Canadian Press  


Wednesday, February 05, 2003
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VANCOUVER (CP) - Six brightly lit stalls, each with a mirror and a safe-injection kit, will be available to intravenous drug users if a proposed site in the infamous, drug-infested Downtown Eastside comes to fruition.

A community group invited reporters Tuesday to view a proposed safe-injection site in the 100-block of East Hastings, the epicentre of Vancouver's drug problem and magnet for thousands of heroin- and cocaine-addicted down-and-outers.

The site, if approved and funded by the three levels of government, would be not only the first in Vancouver but the first in North America.

"The idea of a safe-injection site is to have supervised injection so rather than have people shooting up in dirty puddles in alleyways they can have access to sterile water and supervision from a nurse," said Liz Evans, a nurse and community activist.

Evans helped organize the site through Health Quest, a coalition of community groups that proposes to operate the facility pending government approvals.

"The idea is to prevent the drug overdose deaths and the rate of HIV infection from needle transmission," she said.

Evans said the group hopes the proposed East Hastings location would be the actual site "although we are more than happy to work with the region to make sure a site happens somewhere that works."

As addicts walk into the building, they would first enter a lobby or foyer that more resembles an art gallery, with paintings and track lighting. In one corner is a separate room for the site's clinical director.

Addicts would then walk through another door into a room with six gleaming stalls, each with a mirror and sink and a kit containing a spoon, tourniquet, alcohol pad and syringe.

They would bring their own drugs and inject under the supervision of a nurse.

"People will come here because it's within walking distance" of the area where throngs of users can be seen daily shooting up in alleys and doorway, Evans said.

The pilot site was donated by a businessman with a long history in the area, built by the community group's volunteers and funded by donations.

Cities interested in opening safe-injection sites must complete and submit a document to Health Canada, but the federal agency says it has not yet received any proposals.

"We need funds from the provincial and federal governments," said Evans. "I think the province has gone to the federal government asking them to kick in some contributions.

"While the federal government has taken some leadership in saying they want to go ahead, they haven't taken the leadership in putting the money on the table yet."

The idea also has opponents in Vancouver, including business people in neighbouring Chinatown who fear a safe-injection site will draw even more addicts to the area.

In Ontario, Health Minister Tony Clement said he would fight any attempt to open such a site in Toronto. He argued more should be done to increase anti-drug education and awareness, as well as treatment and rehabilitation for addicts.

So far the city has not commented on the pilot site, but Evans said the community group is confident the new mayor and council are behind it because it was a major campaign issue in the civic election last November.

She estimated the annual cost of operating the site at $380,000 - more if detox and counselling are available, something the city police and others say is necessary.

Health Quest has already written to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority asking that it be included in a proposal the authority is writing to get Ottawa's approval to operate the country's first safe-injection site.

The health authority hopes to have a proposal for the federal government by mid-February.

In December, a parliamentary panel dominated by Liberals said heroin addicts should have safe-injection sites and expanded needle-exchange programs that could save their lives.

The committee said Ottawa should "remove any federal regulatory or legislative barriers" to ease the way for safe-injection sites and to track how well they work.

© Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press

[Primo]

thats crazy.....Then couldn't police go to the clinic sites and bag them for possesion of herion? I heard about this...In a way it is a good idea. It could stop alot of diseases.

Nice now Blade has a place to go to when he shoots up his herion

[Suga Foot]

The police can't do anything about it.  There's too many of them.  They're not gonna lock 'em all up.  They're just tryin to get these people off the streets.  You can walk around that neighborhood, and there will be people shooting up right there on the street.  It's pretty gross.