VIHA CAUTIOUSLY EXPANDS DISTRIBUTION OF SAFE DRUG KITS

Clean needles, condoms and mouthpieces for crack pipes are now being
distributed at a handful of front-line health centres in the region
as the Vancouver Island Health Authority takes a "cautious approach"
to phasing in a harm reduction strategy.

VIHA announced earlier this year that the supplies, which also
include items such as alcohol swabs and lubrication, will eventually
be distributed from 60 centres across the Island as part of a plan to
reduce the spread of disease among drug users. Sites will include
public health clinics, outpatient offices and mental health and
addictions offices.

The first phase of the plan, funded through the B.C. Centre for
Disease Control, involves a total of 10 health centres offering the
items with four locations in the south-Island, three in the
mid-Island and three in the north-Island areas. Six of the centres
began distributing the supplies this fall, including two in the
Central Island region, while three more are expected to do so later this month.

The health authority won't make public the location of these
"secondary distribution sites" at the request of the operators, said
Audrey Shaw, regional manger of communicative disease services. She
said they were worried about media filming people coming in and out
of the centres, which could potentially violate their privacy. They
also didn't want to be flooded by requests for the supplies.

"These sites are mainly set up for clients who access those sites for
other reasons, so they don't want to be overwhelmed by other clients
as well," said Shaw.

She said VIHA is confident that the location of the centres offering
the supplies will spread by word of mouth.

The health authority said feedback from the sites so far have been
positive, but starting with a smaller group of health centres allows
VIHA to mitigate any issues before the program is expanded.

"We're going slowly because we think they are going to be low-key
sites, there's not going to be any of the issues that might be of
concern to the larger primary sites. But we want to make sure we're
not just assuming something," said Shaw.

Harm reduction supplies are already available at some health centres
on the Island, including the Harris House Health Clinic in Nanaimo.