NEEDLE EXCHANGE'S MOBILITY QUESTIONED

City Councillors Concerned Program Is Missing Target

Victoria is stepping backward in its efforts to help addicts, Victoria
city councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe said yesterday.

"We are now the only city in Canada with no fixed needle exchange,"
she said at a council meeting where AIDS Vancouver Island and
Vancouver Island Health Authorities were summoned to talk about the
new mobile needle exchange program.

The mobile program replaces the fixed site, which was shut after its
lease was not renewed and a new location could not be found.

Katrina Jensen, executive director of AIDS Vancouver Island, said UVic
researchers will be studying both the impact of the closure of the
fixed site and the effectiveness of the mobile exchange.

But she and other health officials with VIHA have already expressed
concern that the fledgling harm-reduction service won't reach as many
addicts as the fixed site, nor will it deliver auxiliary services such
as education.

Coun. Dean Fortin questioned why the mobile van route did not match
areas where the city was told to install needle drop boxes -- such as
Reeson Park and Store Street -- because those areas had a high
incidence of drug use.

"Are we going to where the drug users are?"

Jensen said some of the areas are in no-service areas, based on an
agreement not to hand out needles near schools, day cares, open
businesses and faith organizations.

"We also made a decision not to have vehicles park in downtown
locations where it would be a draw" and end up being a fixed site.

They will also no longer hand out any needles anywhere on Cormorant
Street, where the service is headquartered, because of a deal struck
with their landlord.

"It is by no means the only route that is possible," said Jensen,
adding it may be revised.

The mobile service, which delivers needles, condoms and other
harm-reduction paraphernalia, will operate on a loop that includes
Herald, Government, Bay, Rock Bay, Gorge Road East, Garbally Road, and
Douglas streets.

It has one fixed stop at the intersection of Douglas and Princess
streets.

Jensen did not want to comment on the effectiveness of the mobile
needle exchange, saying it was too early to assess the service, which
started at the end of May.