Harper ‘not committed' to safe injection site

CAMILLE BAINS

Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Proponents of Canada's first safe-injection site for heroin addicts say they don't understand why Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't committed to the facility that appears to have saved lives and slowed the spread of diseases such as HIV.

Mr. Harper told a news conference Thursday the Conservative government is still deciding on the fate of the site where addicts are allowed to shoot heroin or use other injection drugs under the supervision of health-care workers.

“I'm not committed to it,” he said in Vancouver.

“We're asking various agencies, including the RCMP, to give us evaluations of that program as it comes to a conclusion and we'll go from there.”

The previous Liberal government approved the facility as a three-year pilot project. In September, Health Canada must decide whether to extend its approval.

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