Canada: Safe Injection Site Visited by 600 Users Daily "Exceeding Expectations": Report

North America's first safe injection facility for IV drug users, Insite in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, "is exceeding expectations in terms of client volume and satisfaction," said Vancouver Coastal Health CEO Ida Goudreau. A report prepared by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Providence Health Care showed that the three-year, federally approved project -- which began one year ago Thursday -- now averages nearly 600 injections a day and 3,000 users over the past year.

The opening of Insite was part of Mayor Larry Campbell's "four pillars" platform in his 2002 run for office. To combat drug use, the four pillars are enforcement, treatment, harm reduction and prevention. The report found a predominance of drug use, as opposed to treatment, at the site. According to the report, 83.1 percent of visitors in August used the injection room, while 8.2 percent sought injection equipment and just 2.3 percent went to see a nurse or counselor. "Visits to Insite for nursing care or counselling have been uncommon to date," the report noted.

Jim Green, a Vancouver city councilor and longtime activist in Downtown Eastside, said Insite's primary purpose was to get users injecting safely. "We're just mainly trying to keep people alive," he said, adding that counseling and drug treatment are secondary efforts. But until Vancouver opens more detox and treatment centers, said Green, the city "is just treading water."

Among the reports other findings:

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• The busiest day at Insite was July 28, which saw 845 injections in an 18-hour period.

• "There is a noticeable increase in visits around the distribution of welfare cheques during the last week of each month," the report said.

• Seventy percent of visitors to Insite are male, and most live in Downtown Eastside.

• The most commonly injected drugs at the site were heroin, morphine, hydromorphone and cocaine.

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