HEALTH OFFICER RESPONDS

I'd like to put the issue of safer crack kits for crack cocaine
smokers into a broader context

The most recent (2002) estimate of the social costs of tobacco,
alcohol and illicit drugs for B.C. are: tobacco, $2.33 billion;
alcohol, $2.22 billion; and illicit drugs, $1.5 billion.

In 2005, there were 27,212 tobacco-related, 25,194 alcohol-related
and 4,817 illicit-drug-related hospital discharges across B.C.
Clearly, we have problems with substance use and fixing them is
neither simple nor easy.

A combination of well-funded prevention programs, treatment
opportunities, strategic law-enforcement initiatives and efforts to
reduce the ill effects of ongoing use (harm reduction) appear from
the evidence to be the most promising approaches.

All could use higher levels of investment.

Addiction to drugs, legal or illegal, is recognized as a chronic
relapsing health condition. Many addicts remain under-treated or are
simply not ready to engage in treatment.

The most sensible way to do business seems to mean offering ways to
prevent costly health problems that arise from unsafe use of drugs,
while increasing investment in treatment and research into more
effective treatment.

Safer crack kits offer one small and inexpensive opportunity to
prevent some potentially very damaging and costly illnesses.

The bill for British Columbians with hepatitis C falls between $71
million and $143 million each year. By contrast, each disposable
piece of tubing costs pennies.

Addiction may be a temporary state, but hepatitis C and HIV
infections, alas, are not.

Dr. Perry Kendall,

Provincial Health Officer