VICTORIA SET TO HAND OUT FREE CRACK-PIPE ACCESSORIES, BUT SAANICH HAS
NEVER BEEN ASKED TO PARTICIPATE

Esquimalt may want nothing to do with them, Saanich has never been
asked, but Victoria's impatient to get the crack kits flowing.

Last week, Victoria council voted to support the Vancouver Island
Health Authority's push to distribute free crack paraphernalia.

In a draft letter to VIHA, council requested a pilot project to
distribute crack kits, including a mouthpiece and push stick.

"It is clear that harm reduction initiatives go a long way to
reducing the transmission of communicable disease," said council's
letter of support.

Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, however, disagreed.

"I don't believe the wider ramifications have been looked at by some
of the studies," he said.

VIHA medical health officer Dr. Murray Fyfe confirms the benefits of
crack kits have not been widely studied. Research has shown, however,
that crack pipes can carry hepatitis C-positive blood, he said. The
plan is to distribute the crack kits through the same agencies
distributing needles for drug injection.

Instead of handing out complete kits, as they do in Prince George and
Toronto, Victoria's kits will only include a mouth piece and push stick.

The mouth piece - actually rubber tubing from the hardware store -
fits over the end of the pipe.

Because crack pipes are often made from broken bottles, pop cans or
even twisted car antennas, they can cut or burn mouths, said Fyfe.
When users share pipes, they can spread hepatitis C or other
communicable diseases.

The push sticks - actually chops sticks - are used to manipulate the
rock cocaine. They are useful in preventing prevent toxic fumes or
finger burns.

Kits would cost taxpayers only pennies apiece and, unlike needles,
could be reused by the drug addicts several times, Fyfe added.

Saanich mayor Frank Leonard said the issue of distributing crack pipe
parts has never come up in his municipality. "We've never had a
request from VIHA for that or anything similar to it," he said.

In Esquimalt, the kits have proved contentious at council.

In late May, Mayor Barb Desjardin said she'd prefer to ban the sale
of crack tools from convenience stores rather than distribute them for free.

Esquimalt's health unit, which would distribute the kits, is too
close to a recreation centre, she said.