I have a new camera!

I wanted to have a means of taking my own pictures while voyaging en Allemagne and so I took out the flyers from Sears and London Drugs and the Source Monday night and looked at a couple cameras in-flyer and called over to Sears and put one on sale on hold.
We had a meeting to talk about the Colonialism resolution yesterday morning and had our practice round after school and after that I walked towards Brentwood with Kate and Gee then went to Sears and got my camera.
My camera is soooo pretty and easy to use and basically the same thing as my parents' but a little larger and better. I love my new camera. :-)

Um. I'm going to go work on my French project like I'm supposed to so until later all!
Me.

Vancouver's safe injection site successful: study

Top AIDS researcher suggests Harper government has 'profound bias' against site

Last Updated: Monday, November 20, 2006 | 5:38 PM ET

CBC News

Vancouver's safe injection site is slowing down the spread of HIV and helping drug users quit their habits, a new study finds — but an expert suggested that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government won't want to hear those results.

The study, which will appear Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says the three-year-old Supervised Injection Site in the Downtown Eastside has been a great success.

The injection site, which drew about 5,000 users in its first year of operation, is a place where people can safely go to inject illegal drugs while being supervised by nurses.

"By all criteria, the Vancouver facility has both saved lives and contributed toward the decreased use of illicit drugs and the reduced spread of HIV infection and other blood-borne infections," Mark Wainberg, the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal, wrote in a commentary published alongside the study.

The study — conducted by Dr. Evan Wood, a professor of epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, and his colleagues — found that drug users who visited the site at least once a week were more willing to enter detoxification programs.

The researchers also found that all users in the area, including those with HIV, have been sharing syringes less since the start of the injection site, which is the first of its kind in North America. They have also engaged in other safe injection practices like using sterile water to formulate their drugs and swabbing alcohol on their skin.

Users were less likely to overdose when they used the facility at least once a week, the study found.

Establish more sites, expert urges

Wainberg argued that the injection site should remain open. He said the federal government should be drafting legislation to allow similar facilities to operate elsewhere in the country.

Wainberg criticized the federal Conservative government, singling out Health Minister Tony Clement for cutting a grant that would have allowed further study of the injection site — something Clement himself has said is necessary.

"Why would the government on the one hand announce that additional time is needed to study the potential success of the Vancouver safer injecting facility and on the other hand eliminate the funding needed for such evaluations?" wrote Wainberg, who is also a professor of medicine at McGill.

He also cited the Harper government's handling of an extension to the "waiver of law," which allows the site to operate without fear that the users or staff will face criminal charges.

Wainberg pointed out that, in September, Harper's government refused a request to extend the waiver for 3½ more years, only agreeing to let it stay open until the end of 2007.

"One hopes that the current government under Stephen Harper, which has been in office since only February 2006, will be willing to learn and to revisit this issue," Wainberg wrote.

Government accused of 'profound bias'

Meanwhile, one of Canada's foremost AIDS researchers accused the federal government of being against the injection site, saying he doubts Ottawa wants to hear that it has been having a positive effect.

"I think that there is a profound bias in this administration," Dr. Julio Montaner, the director of B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, told CBC News in an interview tied to the release of the study.

"Unfortunately, no matter how many attempts we have made to have an intelligent and educated discussion about this issue, their principles stand in the way of evidence-based decision making," said Montaner.

"And to me, that's unacceptable."

The injection site is operated by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority in partnership with the Portland Hotel Society and is funded by the federal and provincial governments.

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I dislike...

the English language. The more I read articles or books in English lately, the more I think about how words are not said the way they're spelt or just look ridiculous as words. I truly do not like English.

*Cont'd from other post*

The only bad thing about the swing we did tonight was it was a three-step to the left, three-step to the right, back-step vs the one-left, one-right rock-step from jive which I want to revert to....
I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough.

Also <3 swing

I love swing dancing. I went off with people to dance and I have to admit I was perfectly content to just stay at home and work on debate and order in Chinese but I'm really glad Gee and Kate convinced me to come along.

<3 choir

Have I mentioned lately how much I love singing and Choir? Because I really do alot alot alot.

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image. On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex. You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time. Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

Remember, remember...

Remember, remember
The Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;

I know of no reason
The Gunpowder Treason
Should ever
Be Forgot.