North America's first safe injection site opens in Vancouver

Heroin and cocaine users in Vancouver now have a safe haven where they can inject their drugs - the first government-approved safe injection site in North America.

There are an estimated 5,000 drug addicts living in Vancouver's downtown eastside. Many shoot-up on the sidewalks and back alleys of the neighbourhood. This year alone, 37 addicts have died of overdoses on the street.

Dr. John Blatherwick, Vancouver's chief medical health officer, says those numbers have to hit home.

"People are dying. If people were (dying) in other parts of the city, in other parts of the province, as they are concentrated in the downtown eastside, we would do something," he said.

Blatherwick says if people can't sympathize with the human cost, then they might be able to understand the health cost.

If the safe injection site results in fewer drug overdoses, HIV and hepatitis C infections, it will save tax dollars.

Addicts will have to be buzzed into the site. They'll be given clean needles, a cooker for their drugs, and tourniquets. They then make their way to one of the mirrored stalls where they'll be allowed to inject their drugs.

Heather Hay of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority says there are huge mirrors for two reasons. "So (the users) can see if anyone is behind them, but also for the nursing staff so they can see the users as they are injecting."

Addicts regularly miss veins and wound themselves with needles.

Last year, Health Canada granted an exemption to the site, making it legal for users to walk in carrying illegal drugs and then shoot up.

That puts police in a difficult position.

City police have agreed they won't arrest addicts here, even though they'll be in possession of illegal drugs.

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But Chief Jamie Graham says that doesn't mean pushers will be safe. "There will be no bubble zone in front or around the safe injection site for drug dealers to congregate," he said.

This is a research project funded by federal government. It will be under close scrutiny to make sure it does result in cleaner streets and fewer drug overdoses to ensure its funding in the years to come.

The Vancouver site is seen as a welcome neighbourhood service by the city's former mayor, Philip Owen, and current mayor, Larry Campbell.

In 2000, Owen pushed for a safe-injection site that would provide outreach services to the city's heroin users.

"It's pretty obvious you can't incarcerate your way out of the drug problem. You can't liberalize your way out of it and just give anybody the drugs they want," he says. "You can't ignore it. So you manage it," said Owen.