NEEDLE EXCHANGE AND FAILED LEADERS

The needle exchange -- or the absence of one -- is just another
symbol of this community's near total failure to deal with the
escalating problems of addiction, mental illness, homelessness and crime.

There has been a massive leadership vacuum as disorder and despair
have been allowed to overwhelm whole sections of Victoria's downtown.
The problems, predictably, are now spreading into other communities.

This did not have to happen. It was not some sudden unexpected
development. Over the last half dozen years politicians at all three
levels of government, health authorities and others have watched as a
small problem became a giant one.

And they have done nothing that has made a real difference in
improving the lives of everyone involved, from the mentally ill
addict on the street to the business owner coping with the effects of
open drug use. They have accepted, or allowed, the deterioration of
our community.

There isn't one easy solution. But that is no excuse for inaction.
Progress could be made with a political will and an openness to
pragmatic solutions that embrace a range of responses, from policing
to treatment to harm reduction.

Consider the needle exchange. A fixed location needle exchange had
operated successfully in Victoria since 1990.

Needle exchanges work. They protect the lives of drug users, who are
less likely to share needles. They reduce health care costs
dramatically by slowing the spread of hepatitis, HIV and other
illnesses and reducing ER visits. They cut the number of discarded
needles on the streets and help connect users with needed services,
including rehab. And they do not increase drug use.

None of those are claims. They are simply facts, supported by
research on the more than 100 exchanges in Canada.

Victoria's needle exchange began to struggle in recent years. The
number of addicts increased and the popularity of meth and crack
brought a more frenzied, harder to manage population. No public
authority advocated for or provided the funding needed to cope with
the much more difficult population of users. The Cormorant Street
needle exchange became a nightmare for the neighbourhood.

Not surprisingly, based on that track record, neighbours on Pandora
Avenue reacted with hostility to a clumsy attempt to relocate the exchange.

Since June 1 there has been no fixed needle exchange. A mobile
service has been tested as way to fill the gap. The result. according
to AIDS Vancouver Island and the Vancouver Health Authority, has been
a 23 per cent drop in the number of needles handed out. That means
more illness and infection.

The number of needles turned into the exchanges by users -- most
trade for old for new needles -- has dropped even more. That means a
50-per-cent increase in the number of needles being disposed of in
other ways, often less safe. And the chance to connect addicts with
services has been dramatically reduced.

In a community already facing a drug and street crisis, we have gone
backward and made things worse. Worse for the drug users, worse for
taxpayers and worse for downtown residents and businesses.

Of course, it's not easy to find an acceptable location for a needle
exchange -- or exchanges -- given the negligence in allowing the
Cormorant Street problems to reach a crisis point.

But the alternative is to do nothing and watch as the community deteriorates.

The exchange failure is just a symptom. On housing, support,
treatment, policing -- all parts of a coherent, effective response --
our leaders have failed the community. The problems have worsened,
year after year. The response has been half-hearted and ineffectual.

Politicians might talk about new programs and spending and studies
and task forces.

But the bottom line is simple. Look at the streets today and as they
were in 2000. Our community has been allowed to slide terribly, in
ways that should be acceptable to no one.