Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2013
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Column: 12th & Cambie
Copyright: 2013 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Mike Howell

BUSY INSITE FORCES ADDICTS INTO ALLEYS

Here's a news flash: People continue to inject illegal drugs in the 
Downtown Eastside.

Tell us something we don't know, you say. But what if I told you not 
everyone shooting illegal drugs is using the Insite supervised drug 
injection facility on East Hastings.

Yes, you say again, that makes sense since Vancouver Coastal Health 
estimates there are 12,000 to 14,000 injection drug users in the 
city, with more than one third living in the Downtown Eastside.

Accommodating all those people at Insite, which only has 12 injection 
booths and is not open 24 hours a day, is obviously impossible; 
studies also indicate drug users won't travel across town to use Insite.

So where am I going with all these facts and figures? I give you 
Twitter. Being the switched-on social media reporter I've come to be, 
I read a tweet shortly before 6 p.m. last Thursday from  
This is what it said: "Currently 24 people waiting 35-plus minutes to 
shoot up. Open another #Insite!!! (countless leaving to shoot in alleys)."

No matter which side of the drug policy debate you're on, people 
shooting illegal drugs into their veins in a back alley is not a good thing.

So what is VCH doing about it? Not much, right now. In fact, there's 
been no movement on this front since the Supreme Court of Canada 
ruled in September 2011 that Insite could remain open indefinitely.

The discussion then was whether the court's decision would lead to 
more injection sites opening in Vancouver and across the country.

So far that hasn't happened, although groups in Toronto, Montreal and 
Winnipeg are actively lobbying for facilities in their cities. Here 
in Vancouver, the health agency is on record of considering 
incorporating injection services into health clinics that provide 
other harm reduction needs such as needle exchanges.

Before it adopts this model, the agency is first focused on ensuring 
the Dr. Peter Centre gets legal status to operate its three-stall 
injection site, according to Anna Marie D'Angelo, VCH spokesperson. 
The centre, which caters to people with AIDS, mental health issues 
and addictions, has operated its injection room since 2003 without an 
exemption from the feds.

As I reported in 2006, the Vancouver Police Department wasn't 
interested in shutting down the illegal facility, saying it wasn't a 
threat to public order. So why VCH's concern now?

"If you have a [licensed practical nurse] or [registered nurse], they 
have to have insurance and you can't be in an illegal milieu to have 
that insurance," D'Angelo said.

That didn't seem to be a concern for the past 10 years. But I 
digress. More on this another time.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom