Legal Shooter's Den for Drug Addicts

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-na/2003/jun/27/062709495.html


Canada Plans Injection Site for Addicts


June 27, 2003
Canada Plans Injection Site for Addicts

By JEREMY HAINSWORTH
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.

The site will be exempt from federal drug laws to allow heroin and cocaine users to use it without fear of arrest.


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A servant of Christ,
Drew