Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2003
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2003 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Jeremy Hainsworth, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

CANADA PLANS INJECTION SITE FOR ADDICTS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Canada will open North America's first 
legal safe-injection site for drug addicts later this year, a decision that 
drew swift criticism from White House drug czar John Walters. The so-called 
"shooting gallery" will be federally funded, a 12-seat facility where 
addicts will be given the equipment they need to inject safely under the 
supervision of nurses, said Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for the Vancouver 
Coastal Health Authority, which will run the program.

It will open in September in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, an impoverished 
neighborhood known for crime and drug use, under funding the federal 
government announced this week.

"They would shoot up under supervision," Zanocco said Thursday. After 
injecting, the users will be monitored in a "chill-out" room to check for 
overdoses, she said.

The site will be exempt from federal drug laws to allow heroin and cocaine 
users to use it without fear of arrest.

"It makes us the first health authority in Canada to have this exception 
that hopefully will allow us to establish scientifically whether supervised 
injection sites can improve health outcomes and reduce harm to drug users," 
Zanocco said.

Similar safe-injection programs have been set up in the Netherlands, 
Switzerland, Australia and Germany. While the sites are credited with 
reducing overdose deaths and the spread of disease, specialists say the 
effect on addiction rates is unclear.

Walters, the White House Director of National Drug Control Policy, said in 
a telephone interview Thursday the program shows an appalling indifference 
to addiction.

"Drug abuse is a deadly disease," Walters said. "It's immoral to allow 
people to suffer and die from a disease we know how to treat."

He also called the concept "a lie," saying "there are no safe injection sites."

Canada already has irritated Walters and U.S. security officials with a 
proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security in 
the Department of Homeland Security, warned Thursday that such moves will 
bring tighter border controls against drug trafficking from Canada. "We're 
concerned about the increased drug activity coming from Canada," Hutchinson 
said during a visit to Seattle.

The United States is "adjusting as necessary our border inspections to 
address those concerns that we have," Hutchinson said. That means longer 
lines that slow the flow of commerce between the North American neighbors 
that share the world's largest trade relationship, worth more than $1 
billion a day.

Zanocco called the safe-injection program a way to help addicts begin 
rehabilitation. The federal funding of $900,000 requires a government 
research program on drug use.

Ann Livingston of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users said allowing 
addicts to inject at supervised sites will reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS 
and hepatitis, while protecting them from arrest on the streets.

"It is simply a public health initiative to do what's logical and 
compassionate and effective," she said.

About 4,000 addicts live in the 15-square-block Downtown Eastside, which 
has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world.

Mayor Larry Campbell, a former police office and coroner, won election last 
year on a platform that promised safe injection sites as part of a "four 
pillar" drug policy involving treatment, prevention, harm reduction and 
enforcement.

Vancouver's police department was criticized by Human Rights Watch in April 
for a crackdown on drug dealers in the area. Police denied targeting users, 
saying they focused on dealers, but critics said the crackdown would 
alienate drug users from social services, leading to an increase in disease 
and death.

Livingston said creating safe-injection sites was a positive step, rather 
than going soft on drug use. She worries that opponents will create 
obstacles to its proper establishment.

"We'll be watching to make sure that it isn't put forward as a program 
that's designed to fail, that it isn't so restrictive that the people who 
you want to come in don't come in," she said.
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