Safe injection site saving lives

Although he's got the kindest heart of anyone I know, my Dad is a gruff kind of guy. When I was telling him about these sort of programs he said, "Good, give the bums enough heroin to overdose and they won't be a problem anymore." He doesn't really mean it of course and I'm sure he would be glad to hear how the one-year review of Vancouver's safe injection site shows the facility is not only saving addict's lives (72 drugs users in 107 incidents since last March, one of which required CPR) but is also helping them change their lives for the better.

There are an average of 588 injections at the site every day – with a major spike in heroin use on "welfare Wednesdays."

Their all time record so far is 845 injections during the 18-hour period but they are also guiding people in kicking the habit.

He says two to four clients a day are referred to addiction treatment programs, with at least one person a week referred to methadone treatment.
The report says a total of 262 users have been referred to addiction counselling in the past six months. Another 78 were referred to withdrawal management programs, such as detox.

The evaluator, Dr. David Marsh, says he's looking forward to two more years of detailed evaluation, to find what works and what can be improved.