The Insite safe-injection site in Vancouver doesn't encourage people to start using drugs, with 1,000 interviews showing that clients have been using heroin, cocaine, or other substances for an average of 15 years, the Vancouver Sun reported Aug. 15.

"There was only one person we talked to who said he performed his first injection at the site," said lead researcher Thomas Kerr, a professor of medicine at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.  "What that means is that it's not attracting new [drug] initiates."

The research also showed that enrollment in Vancouver detox programs rose 33 percent in the six months after the Insite center opened.

Kerr said the results were not surprising but would help counter critics who say the center encourages drug use. The program is currently up for review by Canada's new Conservative government.

"I can only hope the evidence will drive this public-health decision and that this is not going to become a political punching ball, or ultimately the decision be influenced by biases, beliefs, or moral issues that have nothing to do [with it] when it comes to a decision of this magnitude," said Julio Montaner, head of the B.C. Centre.