Study Calls for More Safe-Injection Sites

Lead researcher Evan Wood of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the University of British Columbia said that 75 percent of the 1,082 Insite clients surveyed said they had positively changed their drug-use habits, and 56 percent reported less unsafe disposal of dirty needles.

The study also recommended that the Vancouver model be adopted elsewhere in Canada. In addition, 71 percent said they had stopped shooting up outside. Hundreds of addicts have suffered accidental overdoses at the Insite program during the three years of its operation, but none has died. Woods said HIV rates in the neighborhood where Insite is located also have fallen since the program opened.

"I'm worried from a public-health perspective about what will happen if the site closes," said Wood, noting that authorization for the program expires next month. "I think there will be such a backlash in Vancouver when we go back to the same patterns of needles in storefronts and people injecting in public in the tourist areas of Gastown that British Columbia will probably not tolerate it for that long ... I would say that the international scientific community working in addiction is essentially holding its breath and watching to see what happens here." ¤
The study appears in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

Vancouver Injection Site Faces Police Opposition

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported Aug. 29 that RCMP spokesperson Natalie Deschênes said the Mounties "strongly believe that more research is needed into whether these sites increase the demand for drugs in order for us to support their expansion."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would consult with the RCMP before deciding whether to continue the Vancouver program, which provides a safe haven for heroin and other drug users to inject their drugs under medical supervision and using clean needles. Insite has been operating under a three-year exemption to Canada's drug laws, which ends on Sept. 12.

Recent reports on the Insite program commissioned by the RCMP came back with favorable reviews, but the federal police agency issued a statement saying that, "the [reports are] the opinions of the authors, and not of the RCMP." "So far, that site is there. This is what it is, and we live with it," said Deschênes.
Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham supports continuing the Insite program, saying, "We plan on continuing in the spirit of cooperation to create a more safe and healthy community."¤