FIXED NEEDLE EXCHANGE IS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY

The infrastructure crisis in Canadian cities brings to mind the
Vancouver Island Health Authority's closure of Victoria's fixed-site
needle exchange, another instance of short-term political expediency
producing crisis over the long run. VIHA has duly noted significant
drops in the distribution and recovery of needles since the shift to a
mobile exchange, and disregarded its own reports concerning the need
for core non-mobile services such as counselling, referrals and HIV
testing.

While the "cracks in the pavement" are already showing, the deeper
damages of increasing HIV and hepatitis C rates are less visible. Why
wait for a public health crisis to emerge before supplying these core
services? Such a crisis is infinitely more reprehensible than the
knowing neglect of infrastructure, as the cost threatens to be
measured not in billions of dollars but in lives lost.

Let's see the contents of VIHA's reports realized, with comprehensive
needle exchange services implemented immediately.

Mark Willson

Victoria