Pubdate: Tue, 02 Dec 2003
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Matthew Ramsey, Vancouver Sun
Cited: Vancouver Coastal Health Authority http://www.vch.ca/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

INJECTION SITE REACHES HALF OF TARGET GROUP

The Country's First Legal, Supervised Facility Has 2,100 Clients in the 
Downtown Eastside

Vancouver's safe injection site on East Hastings Street is now serving 
close to 50 per cent of the estimated number of intravenous drug users in 
the Downtown Eastside and 40 per cent of its clients are women.

Chris Buchner, a manager with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, told 
participants in the World AIDS Day forum at the Carnegie Centre Monday that 
Canada's first legal supervised safe injection site (called Insite) now has 
2,100 clients out of an estimated IV drug user population of 4,700 in the 
Downtown Eastside. Insite now logs approximately 500 visits from drug users 
daily.

That's an increase from early November (when it recorded a daily average of 
450 visits) and Buchner says the facility, which opened Sept. 21, will most 
likely be at peak capacity at 600 visits a day. Insite got close to that on 
Nov. 26 when it recorded 560 visits in 18 hours.

Sixty per cent of those visits are from repeat users who may use the 
injection site two or more times a day. Nurses at the facility have been 
able to help in 36 overdoses and are getting two or three detox requests 
each day from drug addicts who want to break their addictions.

Forty per cent of Insite visitors are injecting cocaine, 40 per cent shoot 
heroin, 10 per cent are morphine or prescription drug injectors and the 
final 10 per cent use several substances.

Buchner said researchers are working on recruiting 1,000 of the registered 
users at the facility for a detailed study on IV drug user demographics. So 
far, Buchner said, Insite is serving a full range of drug users, from 
people who have been injecting drugs for a decade or more, to casual users. 
The average age of Insite visitors is the late 30s to early 40s and three 
clients are youths.

Researchers are also collecting data on how many safe injection site users 
have HIV or AIDS, and Buchner said he expects to have a report ready in six 
months.

The injection site is a three-year pilot project funded by Health Canada 
and the provincial health ministry. It is expected to cost approximately $2 
million per year to run.

In the meantime, the number of women infected with AIDS in B.C. is 
increasing at an alarming rate, said B.C. Persons With AIDS Society 
chairman Glen Bradford.

"That's one of the major issues right now," Bradford said in an interview. 
"They're not aware they need to start protecting themselves."

Statistics from the Positive Women's Network say the number of HIV-positive 
women in B.C. has more than doubled in the past decade and now stands at 
more than 1,300. Women now account for 26 per cent of HIV-positive test 
reports, compared with just 10 per cent less than a decade ago. Nearly 50 
per cent of the women in B.C. who tested positive in 2002 are between the 
ages of 15 and 29. The primary method of HIV infection among women is 
heterosexual sex.

Eight million women worldwide now have AIDS and of the 15,754 Canadians 
with the disease, 6.9 per cent are women.

The Positive Women's Network launched an online resource for women with 
HIV/AIDS Monday. The Web site at www.pwn-wave.ca is a resource and 
education provider for women with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers, families 
and communities.

That's good news for women because Bradford believes it's critical that 
heterosexual women understand they face huge risks when having unprotected 
sex, He noted that one of the key ways to reduce the number of women with 
the fatal disease is to empower them to be able to say no to sex or to 
demand their partners use contraceptives.

"We need to find ways to empower women to make healthier decisions for 
themselves," Bradford said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake