CRACK PIPES HANDED OUT DOWNTOWN

The Needle Exchange is now handing out free crack pipes downtown in an
effort to reduce the broader harm caused by drug use in the city.

The little glass pipes with a rubber mouthpiece are the tool of choice
for those who smoke crack cocaine and some other drugs, such as
crystal methamphetamine.

"Our IVDU (intravenous drug users) clients were telling us about the
significant crack cocaine and crystal meth use in our community," said
Needle Exchange co-ordinator Linda Keefe. There was already a body of
research indicating that the rubber ends on the crack pipes did a lot
to curb the spread of disease, as would having a supply of clean pipes.

"We thought we would put out this little feeler to see if there would
be any response," Keefe said. "Our drug-user population was so spread
out, and for other reasons too, that we did not think we could get
them to embrace the mouth guard concept, but we thought we would do a
trial run. This we did with a sample of 400 pipes. We got them on a
Thursday and they were all gone by the Tuesday. We were blown away. We
had no idea, back then, that so many people were smoking crack
cocaine. We set about ordering a supply because it was clearly a
service in demand."

Just like sharing needles, the passing of drug pipes can also spread
diseases.

In Prince George, the Needle Exchange, became concerned that diseases
such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, tuberculosis, syphilis and other
blood-borne infections might well take off in the community unless
this transmission vehicle was stopped.

In 2003, they made their first foray into the crack cocaine
community.

Today, the free crack pipes are given out at a rate of between 20 and
50 per day. They easily exceed 1,000 per month.

Officials say the service is also a foot in the door for health-care
providers to a group of local people who do not always seek out help.

"It gave us a chance to engage a group of people, and also provide
routine public health services, that we were hardly reaching at all
before," Keefe said.

Prince George is not the only centre to take on pipe-passed diseases.
The District of Sechelt was doing it as of 2002 and at that time, was
encouraging intravenous drug addicts to switch to the safer pipes, if
possible.

In 2007, the chief medical officer for the City of Ottawa, Dr. David
Salisbury, estimated the cost of hospitalizing an AIDS sufferer there
to be about $600,000 compared to a few thousand dollars in costs to
distribute clean needles and crack pipes.

In January, the provincial Ministry of Health introduced free crack
pipes as a province-wide service for those health authorities who had
an applicable distribution network like the Needle Exchange in Prince
George.