CRACKS KITS COMING TO CITY THIS SUMMER

A controversial harm reduction strategy will go ahead in Nanaimo,
this time with city council's consultation.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority's original foray into providing
safer tools for drug users three years ago was met with outrage from
both council and neighbourhood groups because of a lack of consultation.

This time, VIHA will use several fixed sites in areas known to be
havens for drug users instead of a mobile van.

Lorna Medd, a medical health officer with VIHA, spoke to city council
Monday, though neighbourhood groups continue to look in from the
outside where consultation is concerned.

Medd said distributing the safer crack kits is the best way to reduce
the spread of HIV, AIDS and hepatitis C among drug users.

"We are really struggling because we have no gold standard treatment
to deal with addictions to crack cocaine," said Medd. "And they are
not an easy group of people to connect with."

The kits include condoms, needles, syringes, alcohol swabs, push
sticks, plastic tubes and cookers. The kits help reduce the risk of
transmitting diseases like HIV, AIDS, and hepatitis C by replacing
broken and dirty glass tubes drug users commonly use to inhale drugs.

In the central Island, 80 per cent of 125 known drug users use crack
cocaine, which has become the drug of choice since the mid-1990s
because of its availability. Sixty-five of those users are based in
Nanaimo. Of those, five per cent have contracted HIV while 72 per
cent have hepatitis C.

"The more we are able to offer useful tools that can prevent the
transmission of these diseases the more likely we are to break the
pattern and hopefully bring people in to other kinds of treatment," said Medd.

The kits will be distributed starting sometime in the summer.

The project will be coordinated with other outreach programs in
Nanaimo, including the city's Housing First Strategy, RCMP community
policing, homeless outreach crisis response, Clearview detox centre
and Harris House clinic, and with a memorandum of understanding
between the city and VIHA.

Mayor John Ruttan said he had concerns with the kits being
distributed by vehicle, saying instead he would prefer the exchanges
to be made a fixed sites.

"The mobile exchange certainly had its challenges and I think it
would be more palatable to the city to have these exchanges at fixed
sites," said Ruttan.