HARM REDUCTION MARATHON LOOMS

Presentations Could Run Six Hours at Tonight's Meeting

A marathon Victoria council meeting is expected tonight as supporters
of harm-reduction services for illicit drug users plan to press their
case for more services.

Some 70 people are hoping to address councillors on initiatives such
as establishment of both a fixed needle exchange and a supervised
injection site.

At five minutes allowed per speaker, that means the presentations
could run about six hours.

"We're hoping as many people as possible show up [...] to remind city
council that they had made some priorities and one of them was harm
reduction and we want them to follow through," said Kim Toombs, a
spokeswoman for Harm Reduction Victoria.

"It's important to hear these voices," said Mayor Dean Fortin, who
noted the Vancouver Island Health Authority would be responsible for
establishing fixed needle-exchange sites. Fortin said council would
like to see three well-funded, small fixed sites.

"This council has made harm reduction a priority. We recognize it has
to be done in partnership with all the other players out there."

Despite a decade's worth of reports calling for such facilities,
Victoria has gone backward with the closure of the Cormorant Street
needle exchange in May 2008, said Toombs.

In March 2009, councillors identified harm reduction as one of the
city's top seven priorities.

Harm Reduction Victoria wants the city to provide a central property
for a "harm-reduction resource centre," which would include
supervised consumption services, needle exchange and counselling.

"One of the barriers in the discussion around finding a location for
a needle exchange has been finding a landlord that is supportive,"
Toombs said. "So that is certainly one thing that the city could do
is be a supportive landlord."

The group notes that in 2007, the Mayor's Task Force on breaking the
cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness identified a
need for small, properly staffed supervised consumption sites to
reduce the spread of disease and provide a stable point of contact
for referrals.

Such sites would also take people shooting up drugs off the streets, they say.

Harm Reduction Victoria also wants an end to the police and
VIHA-sanctioned "no-go zone" that restricts distribution of needles
and other harm-reduction supplies between Blanshard, Chambers,
Balmoral and Yates streets.

The zone became off-limits as a result of a code of conduct developed
in 2008 by a group called the Needle Exchange Advisory Committee. The
code says needles should not be handed out near schools, daycare
centres or open businesses.

But Toombs said the zone cuts off needed access, especially within a
two-block radius around St. Andrews School, where people access other
services. "That's where people are setting up their places to sleep
at night. This is where their community meets."

Coun. Philippe Lucas said he's "never heard a good reason" for the no-go zone.

"We need to make safe supplies available wherever the drug-using
community is and that's certainly -- because of Our Place being our
primary front-line [street] organization --that's certainly where
harm-reduction supplies absolutely should be available."

The fixed needle exchange on Cormorant Street operated for six years
before it was evicted. Neighbours had long complained about
disturbances and hazards associated with its operation.

Since its closure, mobile needle exchanges have operated out of vans
on regular routes.