The man who weathered the storm of 911, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, came to Surrey, B.C. on Thursday to speak about big city problems. But he ended up taking aim at Vancouver's controversial safe injection site.

In speaking with reporters before the economic development conference, he said tough policing would help address the problems on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

"I had a very bad drug problem in New York City when I became mayor of New York City and I addressed it by number one, arresting drug dealers," he said.

And the former big city mayor says Vancouver is headed the wrong way with its safe injection site for heroin addicts.

"I think heroin is a very deadly, very deadly drug,'' he said. "I don't think anyone should be encouraged to use it or assisted in using it. I think that's a terrible mistake."

But supporters of North America's only safe injection site say the facility is needed and it's working.

"People don't die if they inject here. It means if something happens to them there's a nurse there that can help," said Mark Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society.

Insite gives out needles and allows users to inject heroin under the supervision of a nurse or physician. Roughly 800 injections take place there every day.

"My gut reaction is it's ridiculous for Rudy Giuliani to say stuff and ridiculous for him to ignore the science,'' Townsend said.

Townsend - the director of the community group that helps operate the facility - says studies show 'Insite' discourages drug use.

"It says if you use Insite, you're two to three times more likely to want to go to detox and treatment,'' he said.

And while the Federal Government doesn't support Insite, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell clearly does.

"We're trying to reduce harm. The question here is how do you provide people with support so they move away from that and we're going to continue to do what we think works best in Canada and in British Columbia,'' he said.

But Giuliani and supporters of Insite do share some common ground. They all believe rehabilitation is key.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro.