Pubdate: Tue, 01 Apr 2003
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Joel Baglole

VANCOUVER DRUG FACILITIES DRAW IRE OF U.S. OFFICIALS

Angering U.S. officials fighting the war on drugs , the Canadian city of 
Vancouver, British Columbia, is opening North America's first 
safe-injection sites for heroin users.

Backers insist it's better to treat drug addiction as a public-health issue 
rather than a criminal matter. Emulating European countries such as 
Switzerland and the Netherlands, where such sites have existed for more 
than a decade, health workers and politicians say they aim to stop the 
spread of HIV and Hepatitis C from intravenous drug use and to curb the 
number of heroin deaths.

"If I thought tripling the police force would solve this problem, I would 
do it," says Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who was previously British 
Columbia's chief coroner. "But that's not the case. We're dealing with 
addiction and disease. And prison doesn't solve either of those problems."

One supervised site is already operating at a clinic that treats people 
with HIV and AIDS. Officials in the West Coast port city, located north of 
Seattle, say they hope to have a second safe-injection site running by summer.

Critics, including U.S. drug czar John Walters, warn the sites will 
encourage heroin addiction and worsen the city's drug problem. Mr. Walters 
has called Vancouver's safe-injection sites "state-sponsored personal suicide."

The Bush administration already is fuming over Canadian government moves 
that allow some chronically ill people to smoke marijuana legally. Mr. 
Walters says the U.S. administration has increasing concerns about "Canada 
becoming a major drug producer." While exact figures are hard to come by, 
some police groups estimate more than $10 billion a year of illegal drugs 
- -- mostly marijuana -- enters the U.S. from Canada.

Vancouver has one of North America's worst drug problems. City officials 
estimate there are 12,000 intravenous drug users among the 1.3 million 
people in the greater Vancouver area. About 40% of the drug users have HIV 
or AIDS, and 90% have Hepatitis C, which attacks the liver. Since 1993, 
2,000 people have died from drug overdoses on the city's streets. Addicts 
congregate in the downtown eastside, a 12-block area whose main 
intersection, Main Street and Hastings Street, is called "pain and 
wasting," by locals.

For years, officials tackled the drug problem as a criminal issue. Since 
1997, annual arrests for drug offenses in Vancouver have risen 79%, 
according to police. While the number of people contracting HIV in 
Vancouver has been cut in half since 1993, the city today averages about 
250 new HIV infections a year, the highest rate among Canadian cities. 
Hepatitis C infections and heroin deaths remain high.

In 2000, then-mayor Philip Owen, championed the idea of treating drug 
addiction as a public-health issue. His office devised a strategy that 
emphasized "harm reduction" as well as law enforcement, and pushed 
methadone clinics, needle exchanges and safe-injection sites.

In April 2002, the Dr. Peter Centre, a publicly supported HIV/AIDS 
treatment clinic, started running a safe-injection site for drug-addicted 
patients with HIV and AIDS. Addicts are given clean needles, tourniquets, 
water and cotton balls. A nurse supervises them. Referrals to detox centers 
and homeless shelters are given.

The center has applied to Canada's government for a special exemption that 
would allow it to have illicit narcotics on its premises. Until it gets an 
exemption, expected by summer, the safe-injection site is illegal. But 
Vancouver's police department, which supports safe-injection sites, has 
told the center's operators it won't take action against them.

The Portland Hotel Society, a publicly funded outreach program that 
provides housing and medical services in Vancouver's downtown eastside, 
spent $20,000 in October remodeling a vacant store into a safe-injection 
site. The site will be staffed by nurses and have eight injection booths 
and an emergency room where people can be treated for drug overdoses. 
Officials at the society say they're waiting for an exemption from the 
federal government before opening the site, but expect to be operating by 
summer.

Canada's Health Ministry has said it's willing to allow safe-injection 
sites as "pilot projects," provided scientific research is conducted to 
determine their effectiveness. Safe-injection sites have produced mixed 
results in Europe.

A recent poll showed 71% of Vancouver residents support such sites. Critics 
say they set a dangerous precedent. Randy White, justice critic for the 
Canadian Alliance federal political party, says safe-injection sites result 
in "harm extension." He adds that safe-injection sites are "a magnet" for 
addicts looking to use drugs without threat of prosecution.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens