- VANCOUVER -- The operators
of North America's first legal supervised injection site say the facility
has become busy sooner than they thought it would.
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- The two nurses at the site, which opened less than seven
weeks ago, are overseeing about 450 drug injections a day.
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- About 600 visits would be close to the daily capacity,
according to an official at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
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- Mark Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society, which runs
the site along with the health authority, said officials predicted it would
take about six months for the site to have as many users as it currently
has.
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- They thought many drug users would be scared off by the
surveillance cameras, the police presence in the neighbourhood and the
offers of counselling provided by the government-funded project.
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- Intravenous drug users in the city's poverty-stricken
Downtown Eastside come to the building to get clean needles. They also
get medical supervision.
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- The nurses prevented six deaths by drug overdose since
the site opened on Sept. 15, according to Townsend.
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- Copyright © CBC 2003
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- http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/09/injection_site031109
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