<p>Angering U.S. officials fighting the war on drugs, the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia, is opening North America's first safe-injection sites for heroin users.</p>
<p>Backers insist it's better to treat drug addiction as a public-health issue rather than a criminal matter. Emulating European countries such as Switzerland and the Netherlands, where such sites have existed for more than a decade, health workers and politicians say they aim to stop the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C from intravenous drug use and to curb the number of heroin deaths.</p>
