PROVINCE DEFENDS SAFER CRACK KIT PLANS

There are no plans to change course on a controversial safer crack
pipe distribution program that caught the attention of the United
Nations' drug monitoring arm.

Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer, said the
International Narcotics Control Board is wrong when it says B.C. is
violating international agreements by distributing free crack pipes -
along with other items to minimize the potential for spreading
hepatitis C - and setting up safe injection sites for addicts.

The INCB reports to the UN on global trends in narcotic drug use, and
adherence to international conventions on drugs. The organization
recently admonished Canada for its harm reduction programs and urged
Ottawa to ensure it meets international agreements to control the use of drugs.

That warning followed reports of safe injection sites in Victoria and
Vancouver, and experiments in Nanaimo last year giving kits
containing crack pipes, condoms and other items to addicts, to reduce
the spread of disease.

Kendall said the INCB is taking an "ideological" approach based more
on the U.S.-based war on drugs than the reality of harm reduction.

"The UN itself tends to be supportive of harm reduction programs,"
Kendall said. "So the INCB is, I would say, not speaking for the UN."

He said it's also ignoring the legal advice of the United Nations
Office of Drug Control, which is the larger office within the UN.

That advice is that harm reduction programs designed to reduce
illness and overdose rates and encourage drug treatment cannot be
considered to promote illicit drug use or to violate international treaties.

"So the INCB is wrong legally, when they claim that supervised
injection sites or crack cocaine (kits) are contrary to the
obligations of signing members, which is why so many signing members
is Europe, Australia and Canada have gone ahead and launched these
programs," Kendall said.

"They've done their own legal reviews and concluded that they're not
in contravention of the international treaties."

The province plans to ignore the reproaches of the INCB.

"If you look at crack pipe distribution, it is essentially the same
as a needle exchange," Kendall said.

Earlier this year, the city hired Victoria consultants City Spaces to
help draw a harm reduction policy.

Meanwhile, the B.C. Health Ministry said it plans to go ahead later
this year with a harm reduction program that includes distribution of
safer crack kits containing pipe mouthpieces, rather than pipes.