NO CASH FOR NEEDLE HUNT

Province Will Reject City's Request For $200,000 To Clean Up Dirty
Needles: MPP

It doesn't appear the city will be getting the provincial cash it
needs to expand the needle hunter program, based on comments made
yesterday by Vanier MPP Madeleine Meilleur.

The city's community and protective services committee recently
recommended city council lobby the province to hand over an additional
$200,000 to help clean up discarded drug needles.

"We already gave over $90 million (to the city this year), so they can
find the $200,000 for cleaning up needles," Meilleur said yesterday.

Coun. Diane Holmes said she's still going to try to change the Liberal
government's mind. After all, she said, the city is required to
operate the needle exchange program because it's provincially mandated.

"No, I am not the least bit surprised. It's a provincial program that
we have to provide but there is not enough money in it for the
cleanup," said Holmes, whose Somerset ward is home to many of the
city's nearly 5,000 injection drug users.

"You can't mandate a program and then forget about ... the cleaning
up," she said.

Meilleur said the city has made a request for the money but Health
Minister George Smitherman will make the final decision.

NEEDS REVIEW

Still, she acknowledged the program isn't working and needs to be
reviewed because the amount of discarded needles in the downtown core
is a problem.

"They need to review it to make sure the needles are returned. Maybe
it is more education we need to do with those who use the drug
injection and the needles," she said.

Holmes said she is going to rally the troops over the next couple of
months to push for the funding.

"We're going to get all the residents to speak to their own MPPs,
including Madeleine Meilleur," she said.

An increased budget for the city's needle hunting program would see
Vanier included among the sectors swept daily and pay for a safe
needle disposal awareness campaign.

The extra cash would also boost needle cleanup efforts in Hintonburg,
Centretown, the Byward Market and Lowertown. A full-time public health
inspector would also be hired to respond to residents' complaints
about dirty needles. The inspector would have a city vehicle to
provide "rapid response."

The city would also consider adding more needle drop-boxes. There are
currently 20 across the city.

Last year, there were 2,029 discarded needles reported to the city.
There were 497 in 2001.

Those numbers don't include the thousands of needles picked up by the
Shepherds of Good Hope and Lowertown community group Safer Ottawa.