Pubdate: Thu, 25 Sep 2003
Source: Muse, The (CN NF Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Muse
Contact:  http://www.mun.ca/muse/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2656
Author: Stephen Hui
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

DRUG INJECTION SITE A HUMANE INTERVENTION

Harm Reduction Facility A Continental First

VANCOUVER -- North America's first government-sanctioned, supervised drug 
injection site has opened in Vancouver and proponents hope it will help 
reduce the health risks faced by intravenous drug users.

While the injection site will serve as a place to shoot up in a safe, clean 
environment, it will also assess its own harm reduction impact through a 
scientific research project.

"This is a human problem and this supervised injection site is a humane 
intervention," said Liz Evans, whose PHS Community Services Society will be 
operating the facility with the regional healthcare authority.

But Monday's launch was just for the media. Injection site staff was seen 
turning away drug users at the door, telling them: "Come back next week."

When users are allowed into the facility, they will enter a reception area 
before being directed into the injection room. Staff from the intravenous 
drug user community will greet and register them. In the injection room, 
users will find 12 seats where they may take their own drugs in front of 
large mirrors and under medical supervision. Spoons, syringes, tourniquets, 
water, and antiseptic pads will be provided.

Afterwards, users will head to a post-injection area where they may relax 
or access other services, including treatment for injuries, addiction 
counselling, and referral to drug treatment programs.

"This is not going to be a silver bullet," said Dean Wilson from the 
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. "This is going to help prevent 
blood-borne disease transfer. It's going to stop overdose resulting in 
death. It's also going to entice people into a healthier continuum -- 
something that's been very difficult to do in the past."

The injection site will be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 am daily. Two 
registered nurses and a manager will staff the facility at all times, and 
an addiction counsellor and physician will be available on-call.

"I just wanted to try and make a change in the stigmas of how people with 
addiction are being treated," said Tanya Jordan-Knox, a recovering drug 
addict and injection site staff member.

The injection site is located in the city's drug and poverty ravaged 
Downtown Eastside. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control estimates that over 
90 per cent of the neighbourhood's 4,700 intravenous drug users have 
hepatitis C and 30- to 40- per cent are living with HIV.

"It's time they did something like this," said Mark Fiddler, 44, a 
one-and-a-half-year resident of the Downtown Eastside. "You have people 
dying in the alleys."

"They need more detox and rehabilitation sites," Fiddler added.

Needle exchanges collected and distributed over 2.7 million syringes in 
Vancouver last year. While an expansion of that program is in the works, 
there are no plans to open more injection sites.

"One site is not going to be enough for the Downtown Eastside or Lower 
Mainland of British Columbia," said Earl Crowe, an outreach worker with the 
Centre for Disease Control. "We need another five sites within just miles 
of this site."

Heroin maintenance programs should be the next step in the city's harm 
reduction efforts, said Jenny Kwan, the member of the legislative assembly 
for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell told reporters he hopes a site for the safer 
use of crack cocaine will be in the city's future.

"We are never, ever going to cure drug addiction," said Campbell, who 
opposes the legalization of hard drugs. "But what we can do is help those 
who have that addiction to stay alive, and to stay healthy until we can 
help them get into some sort of treatment, and to help them live their lives."

It will cost about $2-million annually to operate the injection site. 
Funding has only been secured for one year.
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MAP posted-by: Beth