Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Page: B6
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Ken Armstrong
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n541/a04.html

DRUG ADDICTS' LIVES REALLY MATTER TO ME

Re: Why safe injections sites won't cut it, Aug. 9.

Margret Kopala provided a litany of reasons why Ottawa should eschew 
a safe injection site. However, she failed to mention that safe 
injection sites save lives. She points out that overdose deaths have 
increased since Insite, the Vancouver safe injection site, opened in 
2003. She fails to mention, as the study by the prestigious medical 
journal Lancet stressed, that overdose deaths around Insite have 
declined 35 per cent in this time frame.

There have been more than three million visits to Insite since 2003, 
yet not a single overdose death at the facility. Safe injection sites 
save lives. Every addict's life matters to me. I realize that view 
isn't universal.

Ken Armstrong, Ottawa
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom