Pubdate: Tue, 29 Nov 2005
Source: Voice, The (CN BC Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Langara College
Contact:  http://www.langara.bc.ca/voice/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3592
Author: Kristen Thompson

CRACKDOWN ON OPEN DRUG USE

Police Patrol Downtown Eastside In New Safety Initiative

A local support group for drug users is irate over the new police 
initiative that started yesterday aiming to crack down on drug users 
who shoot up in public. Police say the reason for the crackdown is 
public safety and to encourage the use of the safe injection site (SIS).

Vancouver police initiated their new program of arresting drug users 
who shoot up in alleys and streets near In- Site, the city's safe 
injection facility in Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings. "We're 
trying to make it better for all people in the area," said Bob Rolls 
of the VPD yesterday.

He said the police are looking at it from a public safety and 
educational view. The initiative is meant to protect local business 
owners, residents, and tourists who complain about discarded needles 
on the sidewalks and in the alleys, as well as encouraging safer drug 
use for addicts.

But Vancouver Network of Drug Users (VANDU), who was outside Carnegie 
Hall yesterday to protest the new police initiative, said it is 
counterproductive, as it will only move users to other parts of the city.

"It's ill-advised and poor public policy," said Ann Livingston, 
executive director of VANDU. "I'm discouraged as hell that this is 
how change takes place."

Livingston said the city needs more safe injection sites as the 
current facility is already at full daily capacity. She said when 
there is a wait line to use In- Site, users tend to grab a clean 
injection kit at reception and go outside.

But InSite by no means supports or encourages users to take the free 
kits to use outside.

"It's hazardous to inject in an alley. [Users] are vulnerable to 
predators," Livingston said.

An average of 40,000 needles are discarded around Carnegie Centre 
every month. According to the police, most needles picked up in the 
Downtown Eastside are right around the SIS. Both the police and 
Livingston said there is an estimated 15,000 unsupervised injections 
around Main and Hastings each day compared to the 600 that InSite 
sees in a day, which means only four per cent of injections are being 
done in the SIS.

Police said the longest anyone has to wait to get into InSite is 
seven minutes. David Ellis, a second-year recreational studies 
student at Langara, thinks both VANDU's and the VPD's solutions could 
be improved.

He believes more money should be put towards treatment and education. 
"Cops should put more resources into getting users away from drugs 
and linking them with programs that get them on their feet," he said.

There are no plans as of yet for more safe sites to be opened in Vancouver.

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INSITE information

- -InSite is North America's first official supervised injection site.

- -It opened in September 2003.

- -It operates seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.

- -InSite is a clean, safe environment where users can inject their own 
drugs under the supervision of clinical staff.

- -Over a hundred overdoses have occurred at the site, but no users 
have died there.

Source:

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman