THE CASE FOR FREE CRACK PIPES

Everyone should calm down about the free crack pipes. Of all the
aspects of the addiction problem and our inadequate response the
decision to provide pipes to users is among the least troubling.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority plans to provide crack pipes at
needle exchanges. The decision, based on a University of Victoria
study showing that sharing pipes could lead to the spread of hepatitis
C, makes sense.

The disease is already widespread among injection drug users, with
about 75 per cent infected. Each new case damages the individual and
adds huge costs to the health-care system. Estimates vary, but
lifetime hep C treatment costs can top $250,000 per person. The 3,000
infected drug users on the Island represent future health-care costs
of some $500 million.

There is, on the other hand, no evidence that providing the pipes
encourages drug use. The effort to reduce the spread of the disease
therefore makes moral and economic sense.

No one should like the fact that drug use has become so widespread and
destructive that we must attempt such damage control.

But that is today's reality. Ignoring the chance to reduce the harm
done -- through needle exchanges, free pipes or drug substitution
programs -- simply means more people will suffer and grow sicker,
health costs will rise and street problems will worsen.

Harm reduction isn't a solution. It is just one part of an effective
response. Those who are offended by the idea of providing pipes -- and
that is certainly understandable on an emotional level -- can best
respond by pressing government for comprehensive action.

Addicts who seek help, for example, should not have to wait weeks or
months for a space in a detox or treatment program. The spark of
change can flicker briefly; the opportunity must be seized.

Family members should not have to fight and lobby to get access to
treatment for their addicted sons and daughters, knowing all the time
that if they are successful it is because someone else is denied a
chance at help.

People should not leave treatment programs or hospitals and be
discharged, homeless and penniless, to streets and shelters where drug
addiction is as common as an after-work beer.

And surely, after four decades of drug education programs that have
simply not worked, we can see the need to do things differently.
Children need much more pragmatic and accurate information about the
risks and attractions of all drugs, including information about ways
to minimize potential harm should they decide to drink or use other
drugs.

In the meantime, the evidence indicates free pipes reduce disease and
health-care costs, without increasing drug use. The program is a
small, sensible response to a large problem.