WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME?

Re: "Needle exchange program deserves a chance," March 23.

Doesn't Marilyn Callahan mean a second chance?

The needle exchange has been operating in our city for some
time.

Headlines during its first chance described a "Cormorant Street
turning into a nightly 'war zone'" and a "daily horror."

Now, AIDS Vancouver Island and the Vancouver Island Health Authority
want to move the needle exchange to another neighbourhood that is
fundamentally the same as Cormorant -- except that it includes an
elementary school, more residents and more businesses.

Callahan writes that the city and VIHA supported the proposed move,
but these decisions were made behind closed doors without transparency
or consultation. How can the public trust such decisions, especially
when they are made in relation to a program with such a terrible track
record?

Programs like the needle exchange might have an effect on the spread
of AIDS and hepatitis, but they also sanction an illegal activity and
attract and service a population whose addictions are usually
supported by crime.

City council, AVI and VIHA need to face the public, who they have
avoided and ignored in the past, to explain in concrete and believable
terms how they plan to operate a needle exchange in a way that we can
all find acceptable.

David Strand,

Victoria