ONE YEAR WITH NO FIXED SITE TOO LONG: NEEDLE EXCHANGE SUPPORTERS

Organizers Set Up Temporary Site At Pandora Avenue And Vancouver Street

It's been a year since the closure of the controversial fixed site
needle exchange in Victoria.

With the creation of a new location not imminent, members of Harm
Reduction Victoria and about 75 supporters took to the streets Sunday
to mark the anniversary with a march and the setting up of a
"guerilla needle exchange."

"We're basically demanding that VIHA (Vancouver Island Health
Authority) follow through on what it said it would do," said Harm
Reduction Victoria spokesperson Kim Toombs.

The temporary exchange site was set up at the point the noon march
started, the corner of Vancouver Street and Pandora Avenue. Victoria
police were closely monitoring the march and initially the exchange,
but left without incident afterward.

The guerilla site was purposely set up within the "no-service zone"
mandated by VIHA - it is bounded by Blanshard Street and Chambers
Street east-west, and Yates Street and Balmoral Road north-south.
Needle exchange services cannot be undertaken in the zone, either
through the mobile service currently being provided or at a fixed site.

Toombs said she did not anticipate problems handing out clean needles
there, since they would not be breaking a law as such, but an
agreement between VIHA and the city.

The zone was created partly in reaction to neighbourhood outcry after
VIHA announced a fixed site might be located in the former St. John
Ambulance building on Pandora, now owned by VIHA. It also followed
months of neighbourhood troubles around the fixed site formerly
operated on Cormorant Street by AIDS Vancouver Island.

VIHA has laid out a list of objectives and recommendations for a
fixed site needle exchange, but appears no closer to finding an
appropriate location.

A progress report released last week said VIHA has been monitoring
the use of the mobile exchange services and continues to look at ways
of providing a service that meets the needs of clients and is
acceptable to the greater community.

According to VIHA executive director for population and community
health, Allison Cutler, one model being explored would see a
combination of mobile services and a network of fixed sites in
existing locations, such as health clinics, pharmacies and charity
based organizations.

One goal of dispersing fixed needle exchange sites throughout the
city would be to lessen congregation in one place and the public
disorder issues that can arise, Cutler said in a release.

Toombs takes issue with such a strategy. It ignores the fact several
social service agencies used by needle exchange clients are clustered
around Pandora Avenue and Quadra Street, such as Our Place, she said.

By creating a "no-go zone" for exchange services in and around an
area where clients congregate for other services, she added, "VIHA
has eliminated the ability for people to access those services right
where they are."