CRACK PROGRAM COMING TO PORT

Health Authority Notifies City Of Plans To Distribute Safe Kits To
Cocaine Users

The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) has made contact with the
City of Port Alberni regarding the proposed local distribution of
mouthpieces and push sticks for crack cocaine pipes.

VIHA medical health officer Dr. Lorna Medd told the Times Tuesday the
province has now released the mouthpieces and push sticks, and the
provincial initiative to roll out the distribution of these items to
crack cocaine users across Vancouver Island will soon be underway.

Now that contact with the city has been made, Medd said she will be
available for city officials who have questions or concerns about the
initiative.

There is no time line in place or location selected for distribution
of these items in Port Alberni yet.

Medd said VIHA will work with both city officials and local social
service groups already providing harm reduction services to coordinate
their efforts.

Health officials are committed to this program in the interest of
preventing the spread of infection and disease.

Statistics reveal that nearly 70 per cent of drug users smoke crack
cocaine, a practice that often results in the users sustaining burns.
These burns can become abscesses, which can be vehicles for the spread
of communicable diseases when crack pipes are shared.

"The evidence is irrefutable that this (harm reduction strategy)
prevents illness," Medd said, adding the illnesses that can be passed
on via shared use of crack pipe equipment include Hepatitis C,
Hepatitis B, HIV and -- under the right circumstances --
Tuberculosis.

Port Alberni is currently in the grip of a tuberculosis outbreak,
which officials at the health authority have confirmed is linked to
crack and cocaine users in the city.

These groups, health officials say, are at higher risk for contracting
the active disease if infected due to malnutrition, lung problems
associated with crack use (smoking), and being confined in small
spaces with other crack users for long periods of time and sharing
equipment.

TB is a contagious bacterial disease that can be spread from person to
person through coughing or sneezing, and can be deadly. To date, 33
active cases have been confirmed in the local outbreak.

Medd said a similar harm reduction program of distribution of
equipment for active crack users has been in place in some Northern
B.C. communities for the last five years, to deal with the growing
problem of the use and abuse of this drug all over B.C.

"Crack cocaine is inexpensive, powerful and easy to obtain," Medd
said. "Yes, we have a problem and yes, it is widespread."

She explained that while abstinence and recovery are certainly primary
goals, while on that path drug users can be protected from acquiring
infection and disease through harm reduction strategies like this one.

In a letter from VIHA chief medical health officer Richard Stanwick to
city council, received at this week's regular meeting, the doctor
states: "street drug use is a concern for communities ... this
includes an increased use of smoked crack cocaine."

The letter further states the health authority has committed to
consulting with local communities on harm reduction strategies "to
reduce the spread of communicable diseases."

Right now the health authority does not fund or distribute crack kits,
mouthpieces or sticks for street drug users.

However, VIHA participates in the Provincial Harm Reduction Committee,
and the latter recently announced that mouthpieces will be included in
"harm reduction supplies" starting next month through funding from the
B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

VIHA's medical health officers support the distribution of sterile
mouthpieces for crack pipes "as a simple and inexpensive approach that
can help the spread of disease," states the letter.

It is also hoped the distribution area will become a point of contact
where street people can access health care and addiction treatment
services that they otherwise may not ask for or receive.

Medd explained crack users generally represent a different
demographic, made up of individuals who (in general) do not avail
themselves of health care services.

Not only can this point of contact -- the equipment distribution point
- -- be used if and when users express an interest in rehabilitation,
but they can also receive services like flu shots and treatment for
any infectious illnesses they may have.

Stanwick's letter to city council concludes by stating the health
authority will consult with municipalities prior to implementing these
measures in the community.