VICTORIA MOBILE-NEEDLE PLAN PANNED BY ADDICTION EXPERT

The health authority's plan to provide Victoria drug-users with clean
needles through a mobile service -- because it can't find a new
permanent location -- will only drive drug users to other
neighbourhoods and increase the problem, says a prominent drug expert.

"The bottom line of your problem -- in terms of health, social and
behavioural problems -- will in no way be smaller . . . you'll have
more problems than less," said Benedikt Fischer, at the University of
Victoria's Centre for Addiction Research B.C.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority announced last week it has
backed off from its plan to move the needle exchange from Cormorant
Street, where it's been evicted as of

May 31, to the St. John Ambulance building on Pandora Avenue. VIHA had
faced outrage from parents at the nearby private St. Andrew's
elementary school, who feared for their children's safety and decried
the lack of consultation.

But the decision means VIHA is left with few options other than to
make the exchange a mobile service. "We have nowhere else to go," said
VIHA president Howard Waldner.

Indeed, VIHA really has just three choices: Stick with the Pandora
location, but consult with neighbours and develop a plan to make it
work (even though it's not obliged to do so as the building has the
appropriate zoning for a needle exchange); operate as a mobile service
only; or find an entirely new location, and likely face similar
backlash from people in that area.

The needle exchange is funded by VIHA and operated by AIDS Vancouver
Island. It serves about 1,500 drug addicts, and has been increasingly
controversial because users loiter outside the Cormorant location in
large groups, leaving behind a trail of dirty syringes, blood and
human waste.

AIDS Vancouver Island said it was trying to clean up the problem, but
needed a bigger space -- hence, the new, larger Pandora location.

The site was chosen because it's next to the newly built Our Place,
which offers transitional housing and programs for the homeless. The
St. John's building would house about 50 health-care and
social-service providers, as well as the needle exchange.