Much to the dismay of U.S. officials fighting drugs, Vancouver, having one of the worst drug problems in North America, has adopted a few new methods of treating drugs. Modeled after certain clinics in Europe, Vancouver has initiated supervised injection sites, also known as safe injection sites. These are the first of such clinics in North America. Although these methods have had mixed results, Canada has granted permission for such sites as trial runs.
The clinics were established almost from a "lesser of two evils" idealogy. The reasoning behind the safe injeciton sites is that even though it's not cracking down as hard as some people would like, it's addressing the issue of the spread of HIV and hepatitis C through the use of used needles and inpromper usage. Roughly 71% of the people residing in Vancouver are for such treatment but others worry about the potential worsening of the situation and increased addiction.
Basically the sites provider supervision and aid for drug addicts, along with clean needles and supplies and a safe place to administer the drugs. The idea was proposed in 2000 and the first safe clinic, the Dr. Peter Centre, was opened in 2002. 