NEEDLE EXCHANGE'S NEIGHBOURS DEMAND FACILITY'S RELOCATION

Victoria's controversial needle exchange must move. Any other
solution by the health authority to clean up the operation won't
work, say its neighbours.

"I think the injunction will move ahead in any event," said lawyer
Danielle Topliss, one of several neighbours seeking to temporarily
shut down the service.

"There is nothing that can be done in the present location," Topliss
said. "It's an experiment that's turned into a tragedy."

Next week, the Vancouver Island Health Authority, which funds the
needle exchange, is poised to present its $12,000 independent review
of the service and offer solutions. AIDS Vancouver Island, which runs
the needle exchange, has the report but won't comment on it.

The Cormorant Street needle exchange has sparked controversy because
some of the homeless addicts loiter outside and leave behind a trail
of dirty syringes, blood and human waste.

As a result, a few months ago, neighbours asked the court for a
temporary injunction, which is still going through the application process.

Last month landlords Yentel Property Management Inc. slapped the
needle exchange with a notice of complaint. They have demanded an end
to the loitering and defacement of public and private property. If
the issues can't be resolve this month, an eviction notice will be
served which will become effective in May next year.

The review focused mainly on the services offered and whether they
are being managed and operated in the best way possible for clients
and the community, VIHA spokeswoman Suzanne Germain said.

But Topliss said the needle exchange needs a bigger facility --
something it requested earlier this year.

AIDS Vancouver Island said in a report in February that it needed
$585,000 -- more than double its current operating budget -- for an
approximately 3,000-square-foot building. That would accommodate a
supervised 50-person drop-in centre, courtyard, toilets, showers,
kitchen and counsellors' offices.

Meanwhile, bars and metal gates have been installed on many of the
neighbourhood's doors and windows, but that has only made the
loitering situation worse, Topliss said.

"They used to be the only areas of refuge [for clients]," Topliss
said. "Now they are excluded from even those areas."

When staff from the needle exchange take a meal break or leave for
the night, drug addicts with nowhere else to go take to the
neighbourhood -- some sleep, some stumble about, others cause a disturbance.

Topliss supports Victoria's proposal for a supervised injection site,
where addicts can inject or take their drugs in a controlled
environment, but that requires an exemption from Canada's federal
drug laws and the Conservative government thus far has indicated it
is cool to the idea.

The majority of the needle exchange's neighbours want the agency to
find a good home, said Topliss, but the current location is
underfunded, is too small and too unworkable.