In Ottawa Monday, a researcher commissioned by the federal government to study the public impact of Vancouver's supervised injection site said there is a good case for expanding the approach to other cities plagued by drugs.

The Insite facility in Downtown Eastside gives IV drug users a place where they can use sterile equipment to inject drugs under the watch of a nurse. The program has not contributed to more crime or attracted drug dealers, and there has been a "modest decline" in public drug use, Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, said on Parliament Hill.

The federal government granted Insite an exemption from the Criminal Code to operate as a pilot study on the intervention's effects. Since Insite's 2003 launch, more than 8,000 users have been provided services. In 80 interviews with local business owners, residents and neighborhood police, 80 percent supported retaining Insite, Boyd said.

"In terms of public order, there is no compelling evidence to suggest a negative impact," Boyd said. "I think our data suggests… the building of additional facilities of a similar kind in neighborhoods where they are needed would yield benefits much in excess of the costs required for such projects."

Numerous studies have praised Insite for helping reduce HIV infection risk and for linking drug users to a detoxification program located above the facility.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has twice renewed Insite's waiver to operate, which will end June 30 unless extended again. A Health Canada panel two years ago recommended its renewal, and the government said it wanted more research about the harm-reduction approach. The federal anti-drug strategy announced last year does not include harm reduction.

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