Safe-injection site adding detox beds and housing

Safe-injection site adding detox beds and housing
Canadian Press
152 words
27 August 2007
Guelph Mercury
Final
A5
English
Copyright (c) 2007 Guelph Mercury.
VANCOUVER

Addicts who shoot up their own drugs at the city's safe-injection site will soon have a place to start getting clean as the facility expands to include detox beds and short-term housing.

As of mid-September, IV drug users at the supervised injecting facility called Insite won't have to wait for detox beds elsewhere, but can instead go directly into detox on the second floor of the same building where they've been getting their fix.

The detox floor will include 12 rooms, each with its own bathroom, a common area, kitchen and exam room, where professionals will assess users and provide counselling.

Those who are homeless or don't want to go back to living in an unsafe place where people are using can then move up to the third floor for temporary shelter.