POLICE UNDERMINE HARM REDUCTION PROGRAMS, EXPERTS SAY

Conflicting Government Branches Impede Success Of Needle And Syringe Programs

Without access to clean needles, illicit drug users (IDUs) must
resort to desperate measures.

"I would be using a needle for 30 hits where I was taking a hammer
and knocking it into my arm because it was so not sharp anymore,"
said Darlene Palmer, a community worker with local harm reduction
centre CACTUS Montreal, and a former drug user.

Palmer spoke at a panel at McGill on Monday night, "Directions of
Harm Reduction Policy in Canada," one of the events of World AIDS
Week, organized by McGill Global AIDS Coalition. The panellists
decried the government's failure to provide Canadians with effective
Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs).

Despite the World Health Organization's endorsement of NSPs, and
despite what panellist and Boulton Fellow of McGill's Law faculty
Alana Klein called "the vast body of scientific literature supporting
harm reduction programs," Palmer said she is still accused of
encouraging drug use by working at CACTUS Montreal.

Palmer said that harm reduction centres helped her and other IDUs
feel like they have people that care about them, while reducing their
risk of contracting HIV through needle sharing.

"But CACTUS had no impact on whether or not I would use in a night,"
Palmer said.

Canada's police forces have strongly objected to NSPs. In 2005, the
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police adopted a resolution that
discouraged harm reduction programs. The resolution reads, in part:
"Harm reduction policies mislead people into thinking they can use
drugs 'safely.'"

"Police are actively undermining programs that governments are trying
to create," Klein said. "One branch of government is giving a service
and another branch of government is taking it away.. It's not a
coherent program."

Palmer said that police officers linger around harm reduction centres
and make people nervous about getting prevention materials like
needles and condoms.

"Women ask for three condoms even though I know they're going to do
about 15 clients that night. When I ask them why, they say that if
they have anything more than three condoms in their pockets, they're
going to be stopped by the police for looking like prostitutes.
They'll use the three condoms and the rest are at their own risk," Palmer said.

Panellists said the police and government resistance to NSPs means
the needs of HIV sufferers are being neglected.

About 58,000 Canadians have HIV or AIDS, and 17, 000 of them live in
Quebec, but the federal government is failing to follow through on
its promises, panellists said.

"Harm reduction is part of the federal drug strategy. It's just that
it's not being funded [by the federal government], at all," Klein
said. "These programs are cheap, they're very cheap."

According to Kevin Barlow, executive director of the Canadian
Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), drug injections account for
two-thirds of new HIV cases among indigenous peoples, and that eight
to 10 new cases arise each week in that population.

He accused Tony Clement, the conservative Health Minister, of
dismissing drug users as "partiers."

"I hope that more people tell the government that it's not just a
party. It's a real problem," Barlow said. "We have to be able to
counter a government that just wants to play partisan politics."

Palmer also asserted that those in power were unaware of the severity
of the issue.

"Maybe if we take the deciders and put them in front of someone who
is using a TV antenna to inject, and see what that does to a person's
physical body, they'll learn to be more open," she said.

Harm reduction centres also allow community workers to improve IDUs'
mental health.

"If that person comes and gets needles, I have a minute or two to
check whether they're eating somewhere, sleeping somewhere," Palmer
said. "[The IDUs] start saying that it has a funny impact on their
using. They say they don't want to be fucked up when they come here,
because they want to be part of the radio show at CACTUS or some
other program we have."

Palmer said her history of drug use has helped her understand the
mentality of IDUs.

"I have a doctorate in using drugs," Palmer said. "I paid a lot of
money to learn what it is about."