NEEDLE GIVE-AWAY MUST DEPEND ON SAFE RECOVERY

Don't even think about it.

That's the response from Downtown Eastside community workers to a study
that proposes scrapping the city's needle recovery program in favour of a
scheme that simply dispenses them.

The issue came to light with the health study's report last month that the
current needle exchange project isn't used by a lot of heroin and cocaine
addicts because returning the syringes is a hassle.

The harm reduction study by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
estimates that with unrestricted distribution, addicts in Vancouver and
Richmond would need seven million clean needles yearly, while only 2.7
million needles were exchanged last year, less than half the potential.

The exchange component of the needle program was launched in Vancouver in
1988 to ensure the health initiative was palatable to a community worried
about carelessly tossed dirty needles.

But the health authority report says the exchange program is
counter-productive. The study found, "no compelling rationale for
restricting access to syringes or other safe-injecting supplies."

It suggests city health clinics handle needle distribution. And that has
the director of a bustling East Hastings community complex worried for the
safety of local residents and workers.

Richard Page has sought assurance from Health Services Minister Colin
Hansen that the city's four-pillar harm reduction program will not include
a needle distribution project without a comprehensive, accountable return
and recovery policy.

He's yet to get it.

"We have attempted to work with the province and the health authority...it
has been unproductive...there is definitely disagreement between the models
employed in harm reduction," he wrote to community members.

Page's concerns are ours. Firstly, community organizations that distribute
needles must be required to recover and inventory used equipment. If such a
strategy is being devised, what is it?

Secondly, will the health authority take responsibility should someone be
punctured by an abandoned dirty needle? Will it take responsibility for any
liability against community organizations that might be held culpable?

There must be no program change until citizens get answers to these crucial
questions.