MOBILE NEEDLE SERVICE HAMSTRUNG

The 'no-go' zone has got to go, says Harm Reduction
Victoria.

The designated downtown zone in which no mobile needle exchange or
drug supply distribution can occur is compromising the health of those
in need, said Harm Reduction Victoria member Kim Toombs. Designated by
the city's needle exchange advisory committee after the closure of
AIDS Vancouver Island's fixed-site needle exchange on Cormorant Street
in May, the zone spans west to east from Blanshard Street to Chambers
Street and north to south from Balmoral Avenue to Yates Street, the
heart of the IV drug users' community.

"The 'no-go' zone is very limiting for people trying to provide
service, because that's where everybody is," Toombs said.

Our Place, the hub facility for homeless services, is within the zone,
she added.

Harm Reduction Victoria representatives flirted with the rules Sunday
by handing out needles at a symbolic fixed site set up near the corner
of Pandora and Vancouver streets, just up the block from Our Place.

Newly elected Victoria Coun. Philippe Lucas said the 'no-go' zone
compounds problems with an already insufficient mobile needle exchange
program and "renders a crisis situation worse."

In the month following the closure of the fixed-site exchange, needle
distribution dropped by roughly 50 per cent, according to AVI
statistics. The distribution rate had improved by late summer, but
even then was still about 23 per cent below the fixed-site numbers.

The needle exchange advisory committee - it lists representatives from
the city, the Vancouver Island Health Authority, AVI and the Victoria
police - laid out excluded areas for the mobile exchange service to
appease all members of society, said VIHA spokesperson Shannon Marshall.

The zones include areas around schools, open businesses, residences
and community settings, including daycares, she noted.

"When we started the proposal for a mobile exchange, we recognized we
needed to do consultation and that code of conduct was drafted with
that in mind," Marshall said.

VIHA's efforts to find a suitable location for a fixed-site exchange
have so far come up empty. VIHA recognizes a fixed site would be the
preferred option for many stakeholders, Marshall said, and welcomes
input from the community about proposed locations.