SAFE HOUSES FOR CRACK USE TOUTED TO CURB SPREAD OF
HIV

Government authorities should allow medically supervised sites where
crack-cocaine users can legally smoke their potent drug, researchers
and British Columbia's top public-health doctor urged after a new
study suggested crack addicts are particularly prone to contracting
HIV.

Sanctioned, safe crack houses would help curb the rampant transmission
of dangerous infections among cocaine smokers, say proponents of the
latest version of harm reduction, a controversial strategy that
essentially condones an illegal activity to prevent an allegedly worse
health problem. They also recommended that public-health officials be
permitted to distribute "safe crack kits," including glass pipes
designed to lessen the spread of viruses.

"It's very unfortunate these things get politicized and made more
controversial than they need be," said Dr. Evan Wood, who spearheaded
the research. "But given the costs and challenges of HIV ... take a
public-health approach to these infectious diseases that are already
breaking free of their traditional boundaries."

Wood is with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, which
oversees Insite, the contentious Vancouver facility where
injection-drug users shoot up under medical supervision.

A paper published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal
found use of crack cocaine had soared between 1996 and 2005, to 40 per
cent from 12 per cent among a 1,048-strong sample of injection-drug
users in Vancouver. It said crack users were four times more likely to
contract HIV than other drug users, possibly because of burns and open
sores.