NEEDLE SHARING ON RISE: UVIC REPORT

The percentage of injection drug users who report sharing needles has
risen from 10 to 23 since the closure of the fixed-site needle exchange.

The data collected in late 2009 comes from the latest report by the
University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research. The centre
has been monitoring drug use for three years.

"The closure of the fixed-site needle exchange in May 2008 and the
subsequent 15,000 fewer clean needles distributed each month in
Victoria since then likely explain these results," said study
co-author Andrew Ivsins, a research assistant.

Needle sharing among Vancouver injection drug users is significantly
lower; only eight per cent report sharing needles in the city with
several fixed needle exchange sites.

Progress toward opening a new fixed site in Victoria is "nowhere" at
the moment, said Suzanne Germaine, spokesperson for the Vancouver
Island Health Authority.

The search for an appropriate site, however, is ongoing, she
added.

In the interim, the health authority is preparing to launch a
"distributed model" of needle exchange. In April, VIHA identified 10
of its own facilities as potential candidates to add clean-needle
distribution to its services.

Four of them will be located in Victoria, but none in the downtown
core following the recommendations of police, Germaine said.

Service was targeted to begin by July, but the launch has been
postpone until the end of September.

The VIHA health unit on Cook Street already offers clean needles to
drug users.