NEEDLE DROP-BOX IDEA IRKS VICTORIA COUNCIL

Instead, City Staff Told To Work With VIHA On Harm-Reduction

Victoria isn't ready to start advertising downtown social problems
with old mail boxes converted into needle drop boxes.

City council sidestepped taking action Thursday on recommendations
from its advisory social planning committee that the city provide
such boxes and enter into a partnership with Vancouver Island Health
Authority (VIHA) for disposal.

Instead, city staff were directed to continue working with VIHA on
more comprehensive harm-reduction strategies for drug addicts and
discarded needles.

The discussion spurred some council members to express frustration
that progress isn't being made toward a safe injection site for the
city, something that is looking less likely under the current federal
government.

Coun. Dean Fortin, most vocal in his opposition to a box program,
rejected the committee's suggestion that the boxes have been
successful in other cities such as Melbourne, Australia.

Instead, Fortin said, the boxes signify that a neighbourhood is no
longer safe, much like a broken window. "It will just have a tendency
to concentrate and promote crime," Fortin said.

"We need an expansion of current needle exchange programs," said
Fortin, adding that Melbourne, a much larger city, has the boxes in
conjunction with a sevenday-a-week syringe cleanup program. "When
you're an addict at the height of your addiction, you don't have the
civic mind to say, 'Oh, I'll save my needles and put them in a drop box.' "

But Erik Ages, spokesman for AIDS Vancouver Island and the agency
that operates the largest needle exchange, said anything that helps
to get needles off the street is a good thing.

Richard Stanwick, medical officer of health, the boxes can be a
complementary service but "let's be thoughtful about this."

Stanwick said needle drop boxes are being tried in the Comox area and
the North Island, and a review of those projects could help determine
a plan for Victoria.

But Stanwick said the boxes won't degrade a given neighbourhood if
they are placed everywhere. "In Calgary (where the boxes are painted
bright yellow), it doesn't matter what neighbourhood you are in. They
are ubiquitous."

The boxes have to be accompanied by a good education program,
Stanwick said. "We don't want seniors dropping off their mail in them."

Outside the meeting, Mayor Alan Lowe continued to champion a safe
injection site for Victoria but acknowledged that hope for such a
facility, under trial in Vancouver, is dimming.

The Vancouver InSite facility operates under a three-year research
exemption from federal drug laws, an exemption given by the previous
Liberal government. The exemption expires in September, when a final
set of research is expected on the site's effectiveness.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been opposed to safe injection sites.

Lowe said needle exchange services need to be expanded. He floated
the idea that pharmacies, where some needles originate, could help
with the problem.

Coun. Bea Holland supports the boxes, saying they would help groups
such as her downtown church deal with the issue of finding syringes
discarded in public.

Currently, small needle drop boxes are installed in a few public
washrooms, and some businesses and downtown agencies arrange for the
boxes. B.C. Ferries has tamper-proof needle drop boxes aboard all ships.

Spokesman Deborah Marshall said the boxes prevent people from hiding
needles in toilet rolls, garbage cans and sanitary napkin disposals.

"It's about safety. Employees could get pricked."

The town of Courtenay installed similar boxes a couple of months ago
after a seven-year-old found a needle in a park. But Randy Wiwchar,
director of community services there, said the boxes haven't been
emptied yet as "we haven't seen a lot of use."

In Victoria, a number of agencies distribute clean needles, including
AIDS Vancouver Island outreach services on Cormorant Street, Victoria
AIDS Resource and Community Services, Society of Living Intravenous
Drug Users, and the Prostitutes Empowerment Education Resource Society.

AIDS Vancouver Island says it collects about a million needles each
year, most in Victoria, but also in smaller centres such as Duncan and Nanaimo.