Addicts shoot up in safe haven in Canada

By Natasha Maguder, CNN

updated 9:48 AM EDT, Fri April 12, 2013

Legal high but is it safer?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Safe haven in Vancouver allows drug addicts to shoot up safely and without fear of arrest
• Controversially, InSite does not require addicts to try to kick their habits
• Supreme Court ruled it should stay open as it was giving access to medical care
• InSite is the only legal safe haven facility in North America

Watch "World's Untold Stories: Shooting up legally" on CNN International on Friday April 12 at 11.30 ET, Saturday 9 a.m. ET and 4.30 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 5.30 a.m. and 11.30 p.m.

Vancouver, British Columbia (CNN) -- Heroin, cocaine and amphetamines are the kind of street drugs you expect to find in the shady corners of any city, hiding away from the glare of law enforcement.

But in one small space in downtown Vancouver addicts openly inject their fixes -- as medics watch on.

This is InSite, North America's only legal safe drug injection center. A banner outside reads "InSite saves lives."

It's a facility where drug addicts can bring and use their drugs and not risk arrest.

Some of the addicts line up two or three times a day to use one of the 12 injection booths.

Shooting up legally

One of the first users of the day is Steve. The center opens at 10 a.m. and then runs steadily for 18 hours until4 a.m. Approximately 800 people use the booths every day.

Steve gives his alias to the receptionist -- all InSite users have an official alias to protect their identity -- and moves into the injection room.

He takes a seat and calmly begins to prepare his hit of heroin. He uses the clean needle and sterile equipment provided by InSite.

The white powder is mixed with water in a spoon, gently heated with a candle, before being drawn into the syringe, and injected into the inside of Steve's elbow. It's not for the squeamish. There's quite a lot of blood.

With fluorescent lighting and lots of mirrors, the atmosphere is clinical, even as the room fills with drug addicts focused on one task only -- feeding their addiction.

Medical staff are on hand and watching closely. If needed they can help addicts find the right vein to shoot up into -- something which can be tricky for long-term users. But their main job is to step in when a user overdoses.

Steve has overdosed here three times.

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Asia B Young