Pubdate: Sat, 02 Sep 2006
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Petti Fong
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

INJECTION SITE GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Drug-Law Exemption Will Now Be Extended Until Late 2007, Health
Minister Promises

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's safe injection site will be kept open until
December of 2007, after getting a last-minute reprieve from federal
Health Minister Tony Clement.

However, Mr. Clement said he was unable to approve a request that
would have extended the life of the Vancouver site for another 3 1/2
years.

The site, which is North America's only supervised injection facility,
must have a federal exemption from drug laws in order to allow addicts
to shoot up inside without fear of being arrested.

News that the site was being kept open spread quickly in the Downtown
Eastside by early evening yesterday.

"People are feeling very grateful and very relieved," said Dan Small,
a manager with the Portland Hotel Society, a non-profit organization
that helps run the facility.

"The Prime Minister and Health Minister have done the right thing.
They've responded to the evidence and the community," he said.

The federal government had been under pressure to make a decision on
the site before a Sept. 12 deadline.

Yesterday, an hour before the announcement, a group representing drug
users in the Downtown Eastside filed a B.C. Supreme Court order
seeking to keep the site operating in the absence of a federal
government permit.

The province, which funds the site, the city and the Vancouver police
chief all support continuing the facility. Mr. Clement made it clear
that he isn't convinced. "Do safe injection sites contribute to
lowering drug use and fighting addiction?" he asked in a release.
"Right now the only thing the research to date has proven conclusively
is drug addicts need more help to get off drugs."

Mr. Clement deferred the decision on the Vancouver application to Dec.
31, 2007, during which time additional studies will be done.

While Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence
in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul's Hospital and the president-elect of the
International AIDS Society, said he's pleased with the exemption, he's
concerned about the government's insistence on more research.

"The evidence is already overwhelming. You can do research until the
cows come home. We have shown overwhelmingly positive results, but
crime is a police matter. We never expected SIS [safe injection site]
will solve all the problems," he said yesterday.

No one in Mr. Clement's office was available for comment after the
announcement.

However, Mayor Sam Sullivan said he talked to the minister by phone in
midafternoon.

"They just explained what the decision was and we committed, both the
Minister of Health and I, to meet and discuss where we need to go with
the new approaches," Mr. Sullivan said yesterday.

Although the city asked for an additional 31/2-year exemption, Mr.
Sullivan said he didn't push the minister to commit to a longer time
frame.

"The time for convincing is over the next few months. I had been to
Ottawa three times on this issue and I made the case as forcefully as
I could," he said.

Diane Tobin, the president of VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of
Drug Users, said she hopes this temporary reprieve will be permanent.

"They will never close it now. This gave him a chance to save a little
face and still do the right thing," she said.

"Hey, 18 more months, I'll take it. It means I won't be going to
funerals during that time for people I know."

Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard said in a statement that the police
force congratulates the federal government for making a very difficult
decision in a complex issue.

While the Vancouver Police Department's position has been supportive
of the facility, rank-and-file members of the force voted unanimously
yesterday to call on the government to shut it down.

In a scathing rejection of the official department policy by Chief
Jamie Graham that the injection site has been successful and should
continue operating with federal approval, Constable Tom Stamatakis
said the program has been a failure.

"We're not going to be bullied into supporting this like others. We're
seeing unprecedented levels of crimes," he said. "They're thinking
this is a simple solution to a complex problem and this is the easiest
way to respond."
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MAP posted-by: Derek