COSTLY STUMBLING ON NEEDLE EXCHANGE

VIHA's Effort To Reduce Problems Welcome, But Leaves Huge Service Gaps In Place

The proposals to fix problems at the Cormorant Street needle exchange
look much like a Band-Aid to be slapped on a large and nasty sore.
Helpful, certainly, but far short of what is needed for users or the community.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority has agreed to provide an extra
$125,000 for the exchange. Most of the money will fund extra shifts
so the needle exchange doesn't close for staff meal breaks, forcing
crowds of users to wait on the streets. Increased staffing will also
allow better supervision of users.

It's a small, useful step, but almost a year overdue. Last January,
health officials, police, the business community, city council and
AIDS Vancouver Island, which operates the exchange, all said the
facility and location were unsuitable. Only now has action been taken.

It has been a costly delay. Residents and businesses in the area have
shown remarkable patience in coping with the chaotic and sometimes
dangerous conditions created by a group of hardcore users who
congregate there. But that patience has been exhausted. They are
pursuing legal action to force the needle exchange to move; its
landlord has served an eviction notice.

VIHA's failure to take timely action has made the task ahead much
more difficult. Few neighbourhoods will be willing to accept the
exchange -- even in an improved form -- now that they have seen the
authority's willingness to allow serious problems to fester.

The changes follow a consultants' report done on the needle exchange
for VIHA, which offers a number of suggestions for reducing the
problems. (It's at www.viha.ca.) But the report acknowledges that the
measures are stopgap, partly intended to reduce services to a level
consistent with funding.

The report found the needle exchange program is hampered by a lack of
addiction services, poor integration with mental health services and
inadequate support onsite.

"There is also a strong need for co-ordination of services regionwide
to achieve consistency and efficiency of service -- this is the
responsibility of the health authority," the report found.

Needle exchanges reduce transmission of disease, save lives and
reduce health-care costs. They can also be a critical link between
the addicted and mentally ill and needed services, part of the
solution to the downtown problems.

VIHA has taken a small step in the right direction; much more needs
to be done, and quickly.