100,000 NEEDLES EXCHANGED IN C-K

Program Aimed At Reducing Risks Involved In Intravenous Drug Use

Local intravenous drug users exchange nearly 100,000 syringes a year
through Needle Exchange Chatham-Kent.

The program, run by Chatham-Kent Public Health, is aimed at reducing
the harm associated with using intravenous drugs such as heroine,
methampetamine and cocaine.

Public health nurse Debbie Maine said the program helps prevent the
spread of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other blood-borne infections.

"If clean needles are available, they'll use them," she said.

Max, an outreach worker with the program and former heroine addict,
who wishes to remain anonymous, is on-call to deliver needles to users
throughout Chatham-Kent.

He said people page him and he meets with them, usually at their
homes, to supply them with clean, single-use syringes.

"I have clients from just about every walk of life," he said.

He noted that the 100,000 syringes were handed out to about 100 local
drug users.

Max doesn't preach to users about addiction, but will offer referrals
and health information.

As well, the program provides condoms and information on safer sex.
Maine said public health also offers free testing for
sexually-transmitted infections and pregnancy tests.

"A lot of times, we're the first contact they (drug users) have with
the health care services," Maine said.

Max said he started helping out with the needle exchange about eight
years ago, after kicking his own drug habit.

Max knows first-hand the risks associated with intravenous drug use.
He contracted hepatitis C while using drugs.

He's thankful he wasn't infected with HIV while using drugs. Max said
he was exposed to the virus but wasn't infected.

"I feel lucky," he said.

Betty Schepens, manager of communicable disease control programs for
the public health unit, said the Ministry of Health estimates that
provincially the rate of hepatitis C among intravenous drug users may
be as high as 60 per cent and about 20 per cent are also infected with
HIV.

According to information provided by the health unit, there were an
estimated 41,000 intravenous drug users in Ontario in 2005.

John Zarbeski, system planning consultant for the Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health, said it's difficult to estimate what types of drugs
people are using. He said it is believed that about one per cent of
Chatham-Kent adults (estimated at 88,000) use speed and heroine, which
works out to about 880.

Schepens said about 70 local users are participating in a study by the
Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program to determine what types of
drugs are being used.

She said the OHRDP helps fund the local needle exchange program. To
run the program in 2006 cost approximately $17,000, she noted.

Schepens said the program isn't just aimed at reducing harm to users,
it also encourages people to return used needles, which makes the
community safer as syringes aren't being unsafely discarded.

Max said more than 90 per cent of people who receive needles through
the program also return the used syringes.

Along with needles, Max delivers "sharps containers" to users so they
can safely dispose of them and return them to the Chatham-Kent Public
Health Unit.

Maine said even though it's proven that needle exchange programs work,
they remain controversial.

"We're not promoting it, we're not condoning it, we're trying to
reduce the risk involved," she said.

"By handing out clean syringes, we aren't getting people started. It's
the people already using them who have access to clean needles."

Zarbeski said in 2001, the needle exchange program handed out
approximately 33,000 syringes.

He said the steady increase in needles being exchanged indicates the
need for a methadone treatment centre. Currently, he said people who
use methadone must travel to Windsor, Sarnia or London.