News

Vancouver's controversial safe injection site has prompted increasing numbers of heroin users to seek treatment for their addictions, according to a significant new study in next month's issue of the medical journal, Addiction.

The study, conducted by researchers with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, found a 30-per-cent increase in the rate of addicts entering detox, once they began using the supervised injection facility known as Insite.

The study also determined that Insite users were more likely to reduce their heroin intake and pursue treatment programs once they left detox.

The findings appear to echo what the ultimate arbiter of the facility's fate, Health Minister Tony Clement, has said it should demonstrate: lower drug use and success in fighting addiction.

The findings also contradict an RCMP document that claimed “considerable evidence” showed that making drug use safer, as Insite does, increases the number of users.

Despite the latest study, backers of what is North America's only supervised injection site for heroin addicts continue to fear that the Conservative government will end the facility's operation at the end of the year because of its ideological opposition to harm-reduction programs for drug users.

The Tories are expected to announce their long-awaited anti-drug strategy next week.