MONTREAL — Canada should consider providing safe-injection sites for users of drugs such as heroin and cocaine to reduce the spread of disease, the RCMP’s top drug-enforcement officer said Friday.
“I think it’s something we have to look at,” Robert Lesser said at a national conference on hepatitis C.
He said police are aware of the need to slow the spread of hepatitis C and AIDS among Canada’s estimated 125,000 injection drug users, more than half of whom have become infected.
Some European countries such as Germany and Switzerland provide sites where drug addicts can inject drugs under supervision to reduce the risk of infection. The United States has generally preferred a criminal-enforcement approach.
Lesser said Canada already has a number of “unofficial” safe injection sites and police generally tolerate them although they are technically illegal.
He said Montreal and Vancouver are considering safe sites operated by community health groups. He believes medical staff should be on hand to prevent or deal with overdoses.
