[DIV id=headline] [H2]Harper 'not committed' to safe injection site [/H2]
[DIV id=author] [P class=byline]CAMILLE BAINS
[P class=source]Canadian Press
[UL class=columnistInfo][/UL]
[DIV id=article style="FONT-SIZE: 100%"] [!-- dateline --]VANCOUVER[!-- /dateline --] — Proponents of Canada's first safe-injection site for heroin addicts say they don't understand why Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't committed to the facility that appears to have saved lives and slowed the spread of diseases such as HIV.
Mr. Harper told a news conference Thursday the Conservative government is still deciding on the fate of the site where addicts are allowed to shoot heroin or use other injection drugs under the supervision of health-care workers.
"I'm not committed to it," he said in Vancouver.
"We're asking various agencies, including the RCMP, to give us evaluations of that program as it comes to a conclusion and we'll go from there."
The previous Liberal government approved the facility as a three-year pilot project. In September, Health Canada must decide whether to extend its approval.
Dr. Perry Kendall, the B.C.'s provincial health officer, said there are already enough evaluations in peer-reviewed journals to suggest the site should be maintained.
"I would very much hope that no government agency would act to impede something that was showing health benefits and public order benefits."
Dr. Kendall is supporting Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, who wants a safe-injection site in his city.
Mr. Lowe said Mr. Harper's comments give him hope because the prime minister isn't saying the site should be shut down.
"All urban cores are experiencing some drug-related problems — needles on the streets and people shooting up — and focusing on the harm-reduction method of trying to assist these people from a health perspective as opposed to just enforcement" is something to support.
Mr. Lowe said he will talk to Mr. Harper about the issue on Friday when the prime minister is in Victoria.
The Vancouver site has been supported by Mayor Sam Sullivan, former mayor Philip Owen, former Mayor Larry Campbell, now a senator, and the Vancouver police department.
A study earlier this year by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS concluded the supervised injection facility is not increasing rates of relapse among former drug users, nor is it a negative influence on those seeking to stop drug use.
Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority which runs the site along with the Portland Hotel Society, said letters of endorsement from various agencies and police have already been forwarded to Health Canada.
Ms. Zanocco said she doesn't understand why Mr. Harper would say the government is asking the RCMP for an evaluation on the site because the Mounties have nothing to do with it.
"I think the fact that we divert a lot of people to treatment, whether it be detox or counselling, that's successful," Ms. Zanocco said.
Mark Townsend, spokesman for the Portland Hotel Society, said there's enough evidence to suggest the government would support the site as others have.
"I'd be shocked if they didn't support it because the science is in."
