GROUP TO DISTRIBUTE DRUG GEAR DOWNTOWN

Harm Reduction Victoria Will Hand Out Needles And Supplies In 'No-Go'
Zone

Harm Reduction Victoria, a grassroots group formed after the Cormorant
Street needle exchange was closed May 31, is planning to hand out
needles and supplies in the so-called "no-go" zone, the area bounded
by Blanshard, Yates, Balmoral and Chambers streets.

"We're marking the six-month anniversary of closing of the Cormorant
Street needle exchange by ensuring that an essential health service is
provided for drug users, if only for a few hours," said Harm Reduction
spokeswoman Kim Toombs. "This is a symbolic action that will also meet
people's basic needs."

The forbidden zone, which takes in Our Place and AIDS Vancouver
Island, is in the exact area where most street people obtain services,
and many do not want to leave the area to meet the mobile needle
exchange, Toombs said.

"Some don't want to drag their stuff or lose the spot where they are
sleeping. That's the living room for many of the street folk," she
said.

The mobile exchange was set up as a stopgap measure when no permanent
location for a needle exchange could be found.

However, a report released in September showed that the number of
needles supplied by the mobile unit was down about 23 per cent from
35,000 a month at the fixed site to 27,000 in August from the mobile
unit.

Only about 40 per cent of needles are being returned, compared to a 70
per cent return rate at the old Cormorant Street facility.

That means people are re-using and sharing needles, putting them at
risk of everything from HIV and hepatitis C to abscesses from blunt
needles, Toombs said.

Eliminating the no-go zone would not solve all the problems of not
having a properly funded, permanent location, but it would help, she
said.

"VIHA really dropped the ball big time on this," she
said.

However, Shannon Marshall, Vancouver Island Health Authority
spokeswoman, said it was the Needle Exchange Advisory Committee, not
VIHA that established the no-go zone.

The committee, which includes representatives from community groups,
AVI, Victoria, police and VIHA, decided mobile services should not be
offered in areas where there are schools, daycares and open
businesses, she said.

"It makes perfect sense to have an exclusion zone," Marshall
said.

St. Andrew's elementary school is in the no-go area.

"We still recognize a fixed site exchange is the preferred option and
we would certainly welcome suggestions from the community," Marshall
said.

However, no sites have been identified and, if an area is considered,
there will be full community consultation, she said.

Today's needle distribution is supported by Victoria councillor elect
Philippe Lucas.

"The mobile needle exchange that is currently operating is largely
insufficient and the no-go zone renders a crisis situation worse," he
said.