RURAL ADDICTS STRESS HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM

TRURO, N.S. - The increasing number of drug addicts in rural and small-town
Canada represents a looming public health crisis, people who work with
addicts say.

With all kinds of drugs readily available outside the cities, and the
cheaper rents, addicts have been moving to the country.

But the smaller communities are not equipped to handle the public health
aspects of drug addiction, issues like the spread of disease through
contaminated needles.

In New Brunswick, the increasing incidence of Hepatitis C is a good
indicator of drug usage because it is spread largely when addicts share
needles, said Haley Flaro, executive director of Aids New Brunswick.

"We have recently had the province say it is at epidemic proportions," with
about 1,200 cases in five years, she said.

The health-care costs to take care of the addicts are immense. But "we know
prevention works," she said.

In Truro, N.S., Bea Arsenault will exchange 6,000 to 8,000 needles every
three weeks in a city of just 12,000 people.

The outreach worker with Mainline Needle Exchange is trying to expand the
program to other parts of the province.