Canada Plans Injection Site for Addicts

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Canada will open North America's first legal safe-injection site for drug addicts later this year, a decision that drew swift criticism from White House drug czar John Walters.

The so-called "shooting gallery" will be federally funded, a 12-seat facility where addicts will be given the equipment they need to inject safely under the supervision of nurses, said Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which will run the program.

It will open in September in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, an impoverished neighborhood known for crime and drug use, under funding the federal government announced this week.

"They would shoot up under supervision," Zanocco said Thursday. After injecting, the users will be monitored in a "chill-out" room to check for overdoses, she said.

Las Vegas Sun News

what can i say our dumbass liberal government is at it again

why don't they just give them the drugs while they're at it....

"They would shoot up under supervision," Zanocco said Thursday. After injecting, the users will be monitored in a "chill-out" room to check for overdoses, she said.

Bet that room is full.

ok in an ideal world no one would be injecting Class A drugs into their bodies, but obviously this world isn't ideal. So what would you rather have - addicts out on the streets and in recreational areas, leaving their needles and equipment where your children can stumble across them catching HIV and Hepatitus; or addicts in a secure environment where their equipment is safely disposed of and trained staff are present to encourage them to seek help and rehabilitation.

Every smack head I have ever met wants to be off the stuff. I have met people who spend every single day saying that tomorrow they are going to get clean and they rarely do without a massive amount of help. Do you seriously think centres like these are going to encourage people to become drug addicts?

They already have this type of thing going in the states. I know they do in Florida atleast..There are mobile vans that drive around and park and folks can go in and grab clean needles and other stuff needed for their drug addiction. They also hand out condoms...I'm not really for or against it..I don't do drugs but am glad to know that those who do can atleast somewhat maintain their safety if need be.
Magestica

Nah , They deffently dont have these places in the US they are out in europe tho, I think its a good idea, if they shoot up in this place they cant share needels and helps turn down the spread of aids, and plus these junkies wont be running the streets all hopped up on Herion , maybe it will turn down the crime rate, im still waiting for the US to improve the marijuanna lawz

Well,

Not that anyone cares. But I think it all should be legal and taxed and controlled. The U.S. has claimed to be spending between 10 and 30 Billion Dollars a year on the War on Drugs, to no avail. Canada is in the process of de-criminalizing possesion of less than twenty marijuana cigarettes, the U.S. is in opposition, claims that such a circumstance will increase marijuana use in America. How foolish, considering that Humboldt County, Ca. produces 38 Billion Dollars worth of marijuana every year. Which makes it Americas largest cash crop, surpassing corn.
We subsidize corn and still cannot compete with pot, what is wrong with this picture?
Legalize it, tax it, and educate. If America is so powerfull and always right, why does our educational system rank 17th among industrial nations while our military is a hyper-power?
If we are so freak'in great why does a college education cost a hundred thousand dollars when it should be free if not mandatory?
Why do all our current college graduates have to search for a job in MacDonalds cause our economy is thrashed?
Why have we evolved into a service nation destined to provide warriors to the world?
The saddest part is I do not have an answer or a solution.
Do you?

TUT TUT

Originally posted by ViNZiNO
Nah , They deffently dont have these places in the US they are out in europe tho, I think its a good idea, if they shoot up in this place they cant share needels and helps turn down the spread of aids, and plus these junkies wont be running the streets all hopped up on Herion , maybe it will turn down the crime rate, im still waiting for the US to improve the marijuanna lawz

I'm not BSing, I lived in Florida for nearly 16 years on and off. They have mobile units that disperse anything and everything other then the drugs. But then, Florida has their own little world somewhat like California..they do what they want to do and that's that. So YES it is implemented in good ole America, one state that I know of for sure.
Magestica

Originally posted by magestica

Originally posted by ViNZiNO
Nah , They deffently dont have these places in the US
I'm not BSing, I lived in Florida for nearly 16 years on and off. They have mobile units that disperse anything and everything other then the drugs. But then, Florida has their own little world somewhat like California..they do what they want to do and that's that. So YES it is implemented in good ole America, one state that I know of for sure.
Magestica

========================================

i've spent quite a bit of time in florida and they would like me back, maybe!
Majestica is correct on both counts, florida has those wagons and Fl +Ca are their very own little police states

tut tut

I live in Vancouver and at first I think I was appalled that my tax dollars are going to be paying for this. But after much thought I realized that the drug issue is here and it is not going to go away. If we can at least centralize it to one area and have medical staff and counselling available ... if it can prevent such things as needles in schoolyards, reduce overdoses and intravenously transmitted viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C .. then these are all good things.

The injection site is located in a very seedy area of town. About 30% of the addicts in the area are HIV positive and 90% have hepatitis C. There will be 12 seats for users, plus a waiting room. Program administrators estimate that 850 injections will take place each day. They figure that as few as 2% of clients may seek treatment, but 2% is better than none at all.

The article also stated the following ...

'A Bush Administration official ripped the initiative as 'state-sponsored suicide'. But Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, an ex-drug squad cop who championed the injection site shoots back: 'I think all you have to do is take a look at your prison system and your law enforcement to see if the drug war is being won in the States. It's an unmitigated disaster and they know it, but they cant back out of it.'

I don't know what goes on in Florida, I have never even been there, but I do know that this is the first legal 'safe injection site' in North America.

It will also be interesting to see how things go with it over the next 6 and a half years now that we've been awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics ... it's certainly in our best interest to have as many drug addicts off the street as we can by then.

This plan makes perfect sense

Our government realizes these addicts are going to take these drugs no matter what the consequences

and instead of letting these people inject themselves with infected needles carrying deadly diseases

were not just gonna stand here and let them die.......they are breaking the law, but our government cares about our citizens regardless and just won't let people suffer and die in the streets

WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY CANADA IS

A GOVERNMENT THAT CARES ABOUT ITS CITZENS REGARDLESS

Originally posted by tututkamen
Well,


If we are so freak'in great why does a college education cost a hundred thousand dollars when it should be free if not mandatory?


TUT TUT

Its all a plan to have expensive tutions in America, so they have no choice to join the army

Makes sense doesn't it

Locking up addicts is not the answer.

The drug addiction problem is a social/economic issue.

It is not a criminal issue.

The drugs are used to escape the brutal realities these people live in (no money, no home, no friends, no education, violence, abuse, etc.) to temporarily escape to a 'better place'.

Take the time to help these people put their lives back together, and the desire for drugs will quell itself.

My 2 cents.

The Swiss have already taken up on this idea of safe injection clinics and apparantly they have been extremely successful, so the best of luck to the Canadian one. I think it's a great idea to start these and I feel more countries should take up on this scheme, definately the UK with its rising drug culture. ( I don't know what the US' situation with drugs is I don't live there)

-Ike

Just wanted to clarify my point -

I am certainly not talking about a bunch of teens smoking some pot on a Friday night. Who cares.

I am talking about 10-year veteran heroine junkies that live from fix to fix.

It's a problem, no doubt.

But not a criminal one.

At least some have the right idea around here. Canada has obviously done their homework and still have some brains within their policy making.

In the U.S. there have been Safe Houses for Junkies using needles. Mainly cause of needle sharring. Which is atleast a good first step. It needs to keep going to help these people rebuild their lives again next. The cost of treatment for drug abuse would pale in comparison to what is spent on fighting it, plus would result in productive people, less crime, less crowded jails, and even a feeling of helping one another instead of just killing people all the time as the answer to our problems....What a novel idea?!?!?

Actually, i am all for this.
I've had to help and see a guy who collapsed a vein.
heroin addiction is horrid, one of my close friends cannot escape it. the horror of that experience changes your opinion on how to deal with the issue of unsafe injection practices. cause this issue isn't going away. people will get high.

The cost of treatment for drug abuse would pale in comparison to what is spent on fighting it, plus would result in productive people, less crime, less crowded jails, and even a feeling of helping one another instead of just killing people all the time as the answer to our problems....What a novel idea?!?!?

You probably came up with the answer is about 30 seconds....

So - It begs the question....

'Why is it, that such a simple, workable, effective program cannot be put together to help these ailing citizens of this great democracy, by some of the most powerful minds in the nation?'

Because they DON'T WANT TO.

It's that simple.

Behavior this chonically insolent is not accidental - it is intentional.

They do NOT want to help, it's actually the opposite - they need to perpeutate the problem, so they can go back to congress to get more money to improve 'security' by saying:

'See all the bad people out there? We need to protect you, and throw them in jail. Don't worry - we're here to help.'

Suuuuure you are...


[Edited on 8-10-2003 by Skooter]

I barelly see what's wrong with that, not that i'm for that but... You people need to keep one think in mind, if they do their injections at these sites, they will not drop their syringes in parks, school yards and what ever places where childrens can harm themself and get contaminated with something like AIDS. That's safer for them and for my two years old niece, so I don't care if i pay taxes for that.