Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - November 20, 2006
Allan Dowd

Closing the Vancouver facility, which was opened in 2003 as a research experiment, would also likely increase health problems in the Pacific coast city, according to the report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

A related commentary in the medical journal called for injection sites to be started in other Canadian cities, and criticized the federal Conservative government's reluctance to keep the Vancouver facility open long-term.

"Government leaders should understand that allowing safer injecting facilities to operate in other Canadian cities is consistent with conservative values aimed at diminishing illicit drug use and HIV transmission," wrote Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill University AIDS Centre.

Vancouver's Insite facility, operated by local health officials, allows addicts to inject themselves with drugs such as heroin and cocaine using clean needles provided by medical officials at the site.

The facility in the city's poor and drug-infested Downtown Eastside neighborhood receives an average of 607 addict visits a day.

To open the facility, local officials got a three-year exemption from federal drug possession laws as they studied Insite's impact on overdose deaths and other drug-related problems in the surrounding community.

University of British Columbia researchers said addicts were more likely to ask for detox treatment because of the facility, and less likely to share needles -- a practice that spreads diseases such as AIDS.

Public injection drug use dropped in the area surrounding the facility, and fears that Insite would increase crime by attracting more drug users and dealers to the area never materialized, the report said.

"In summary, the evaluations of the Vancouver safer injection facility have documented a large number of health and community benefits, and there have been no indications of community or health-related harms," the researchers wrote.

In September, the federal government granted Insite an additional year of operation instead of the three-year extension that health officials had requested, and said more research would be needed to keep it open longer.

Monday's report complained that Ottawa did not provide the money to pay for the additional research, and said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had criticized the facility without providing any data to support its claims.

Insite's operation has split the national police from the Vancouver Police, who have supported the facility's bid to remain open and supplied some of the information used by researchers.

061120
RE061135

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2006. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2006. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .