NEEDLE EXCHANGE SEEKS TO DOUBLE FUNDING

AIDS Vancouver Island needs $585,000 -- more than double its current
operating budget -- to run an expanded needle exchange in a new
location, according to a confidential draft document sent by the
agency to city and health officials.

The document is being considered by the Vancouver Island Health
Authority, which provides funding for the AIDS organization, as 13
plaintiffs are expected to file a court injunction this afternoon to
stop the needle exchange from operating at its Cormorant Street location.

The needle exchange is the source of much controversy. Homeless
addicts with nowhere to shoot up loiter outside, urinate, defecate
and leave behind a trail of dirty syringes, blood and human waste.

Victoria lawyer Stewart Johnston, whose Amelia Street law firm is off
Cormorant, is fed up.

He is one of several business people and residents expected to file
an injunction against the Ministry of Health, VIHA, AIDS Vancouver
Island and Yentel Property Management Inc. today, asking the court to
shut down the exchange, which they argue is a nuisance to property
owners and tenants in the neighbourhood.

"It's not doing a good job for addicts, and it's certainly doing a
bad job for the neighbourhood," Johnston said yesterday. "Close it
down, expand it or open it up again properly."

That's what AIDS Vancouver Island wants to do. Its proposal for an
expanded needle exchange includes a 3,000-square-foot building close
to downtown -- Rock Bay has been suggested, but no formal location
has been proposed. It also calls for a supervised 50-person drop-in
centre, courtyard, toilets, showers, kitchen, counsellors' offices
and storage space.

VIHA won't comment on the court action or AIDS Vancouver Island's
request for additional funding. The two parties are in budget
negotiations that are expected to conclude in weeks.

Katrina Jensen, AVI's director of programs, said the existing
seven-day, two-person operation, which costs $250,000 annually to
run, doesn't have enough money from VIHA to run the needle-exchange properly.

"All we're seeking is a service that will hopefully meet clients'
needs and reduce the impact on the neighbourhood," Jensen said.

Since February 2002, when the exchange opened at its current site,
the area has slowly become a no-go zone for everyone but hard-core
addicts, critics say.

That's because the neighbourhood and the nature of drug use have
changed, Jensen said.

The number of clients and syringes has increased greatly since the
service started in 1996 -- one million syringes, up from 128,000, and
2,000 clients, up from 545, she said.

AIDS Vancouver Island doesn't want to move the problem to another
neighbourhood, Jensen said. Rather, it wants to provide the necessary
services in an appropriate space so the surrounding area is not affected.

The agency rents its building from Yentel Property Management, owned
by David Siegel and Max Josephson.

VIHA spokeswoman Suzanne Germain said yesterday the health authority
is not responsible for the building, leases or surrounding area.

Yentel Property said yesterday that it was unaware of the court
injunction and problems with the building.

"I don't know anything about it -- it's the first I've heard of it,"
Josephson said. "It has nothing to do with the landlord ... we
believe it's the tenants' responsibility."