'SAFER' CRACK PIPES DISTRIBUTED BY GROUP

Drug Users Union Wants To Protect Addicts' Health

A group of illegal drug users says it will hand out 1,500 "safer"
crack cocaine pipe kits to protect addicts from unsafe use.

The Drug Users' Union of Toronto announced yesterday it would begin
distributing the "safer crack pipe kits" last night.

Over the next two to three weeks, volunteers will be giving out the
"Crack-Me-Up Kit" - they say is the first program of its kind in the
world. The kit includes a safety-tested pipe with stainless steel bowl
and screens that won't emit toxic fumes, plus a stem of chrome-plated
copper that won't heat up.

Crack pipes made of plastic water bottles, pens or lipstick tubes emit
toxic fumes that cause respiratory problems, Cheryl White, a Drug
Users' Union member, told a news conference at All Saints Church, at
Dundas and Sherbourne Sts.

As well, glass or metal pipes get very hot, burning and cracking
users' lips.

Kits also include condoms to reduce sexually transmitted diseases;
moisturizer for cracked lips; a postcard with instructions on safer
sex and crack cocaine use, and telephone numbers of health promotion
and harm reduction centres.

There is nothing illegal about handing out the kits, police
spokesperson, Constable Devin Kealey said yesterday.

"It doesn't become drug paraphernalia until it becomes contaminated
with a drug," he said.

He said police would prefer the users' group directed its energies at
getting people off drugs.

White, a former heroin user now on methadone, said, "People are going
to do drugs and you can shout at them and tell them to stop all you
want. They're just going to turn away."

Dr. Joyce Bernstein, an epidemiologist with Toronto Public Health,
said her department is ambivalent about programs like the crack kit.

"We've been discussing this for over two years, but we haven't been
able to come to an agreement," she told the Toronto Board of Health
Substance Abuse Sub-Committee yesterday.

But Lee Zaslofsky, a citizen member of the board of health, thinks the
kits are a great idea. He said he was discouraged the drug users'
union doesn't receive any public funding for the project. He says the
union's approach fits perfectly with the policies of Toronto Public
Health.

Dr. Peggy Millson, an assistant professor with the HIV, social,
behavioural and epidemiological studies unit at the University of
Toronto's department of public health, attended the group's news
conference in support. She said U.S. studies show crack use increases
the transmission of hepatitis C and HIV from contaminated pipes and
cut lips.

The 1,500 pipes cost $14,000 alone, White said. She wouldn't say which
organizations provided the money.

Charmaine North, a member of the users' group, who has used crack
cocaine for 15 years, said the kits would have helped her.

The 33-member union includes illegal drug users, methadone users and
supporters.

With files from Alison Blackduck