CENTRES WILL HAVE NEEDLES FOR DRUG ADDICTS

VIHA harm-reduction strategy will see drug paraphernalia offered at
clinics, outpatient offices

Drug addicts on in Nanaimo will soon have sterile needles and other
drug paraphernalia available to them at most front-line health centres.

The initiative is part of the Vancouver Island Health Authority's
strategy to reduce the spread of diseases among drug users by
distributing the supplies from about 60 centres authority-wide.
Approximately 12 sites in Nanaimo have been short-listed, but final
selections will not be made until June or July.

Widespread distribution also takes the focus off of a single site,
which can become hangouts for the addicts who regularly use the
facilities. A fixed needle exchange site in Victoria shut down in 2008
because it turned into a hub for users, who reportedly disturbed
neighbours. VIHA has had difficulties with needle exchanges in Nanaimo
as well, but the Harris House on Wesley Street is widely accepted as a
model of success.

Needle exchanges will work much like any other harm reduction for
crack pipes and condoms, according to VIHA spokeswoman Suzanne
Germain. There will be exemptions for those sites that are completely
inappropriate, but there must be good reason.

"If you're a front-line office, you will make harm reduction supplies
available, unless there is a compelling reason not to," Germain said.
"Our executive is very much in support of this. You will have to have
a good argument to get out of it."

Sites will include public health clinics, outpatient offices and
mental health and addictions offices. The model has worked in other
health authorities and is what VIHA's chief medical health officer,
Dr. Richard Stanwick, refers to as needle exchange in a drawer.

"It makes supplies more distributed and more accessible to clients,"
Germain said. "Not every body who is a drug user is in downtown
Victoria or . . .near Harris house in Nanaimo."

Harm-reduction policies that aim to reduce the spread of disease among
addicts are similar to laws that force people to not smoke near
buildings or those that force people to wear seat belts, Germain
explained. Diseases like HIV AIDS or Hepatitis C are severely painful
for the victims and they are extremely expensive for all taxpayers.

"It helps reduce the spread of disease, which ultimately cost the
health care system a significant amount of money," Germain said.