FREE CRACK PIPE SERVICE DISCONTINUED IN CALGARY

A decision to stop a program distributing clean
crack pipes has disappointed those working to rehabilitate street addicts.

Since 2008, Alberta Health Services had been
giving out crack pipe kits as part of its
Safeworks program, an effort to reduce transmittable diseases.

The kits contained a glass pipe, mouthpiece and
cleaning tool, and were handed out in an AHS van.
Over 14,500 crack pipes were given out as of June.

However, AHS has discontinued the Safeworks crack
pipe program as of Tuesday, citing the =93potential
for a legal challenge with respect to distribution.=94

Tim Richter, Calgary Homeless Foundation CEO,
said the program was an effective first step in
engaging hardcore, street-involved crack cocaine addicts.

We're disappointed the program has been cancelled
in the fashion it was,=94 Richter said. =93Harm
reduction and giving these crack pipes out was good, smart public health.

It seems like a knee-jerk reaction on fairly simplistic moralistic ground.
=94

Some groups, including the Calgary Police
Association, had recently expressed their
concerns with the Safeworks program prior to its
cancellation. CPA president John Dooks said it set a dangerous precedent.

It's implying you can use elicit drugs or
unlawful drugs in a safe manner,=94 Dooks said.
=93The message should be there is no safe way to use drugs.=94

Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear also
defended the decision, saying Safeworks was
illegal by law, and his organization had
expressed concerns to Alberta Health Services
earlier this year. Dear said there were legal
problems outside the Criminal Code, such as
distinguishing between Safeworks pipes and ones
from an outside distributor and defining the
point at which a used pipe becomes contraband.
Officials say each pipe cost 30 cents.

John Bodman, a 68-year-old former crack addict,
stressed the need for clean, fresh crack pipes,=94
and said he was disappointed to learn the service had been cancelled.

I'm sure you=92re going to see an increases in
diseases,=94 Bodman said, adding the cost to treat
addicts will likely increase as well.

Bodman, who now works as a mentor with the
Safeworks program, said street users aren't happy
because =93they have to go back to the old games.=94

He said addicts use everything from aluminum cans
to car parts as a means to smoke crack.

The crack is bad enough, but you mix all those
chemicals together and it's a real disaster.=94

In a statement e-mailed to the Herald, AHS said
it will continue to focus on other mechanisms to
reduce health risks experienced by marginalized populations.

In Calgary, the Safeworks Program van will
continue to offer health-care services =AD
including referrals, immunizations, testing for
communicable diseases and STIs, wound care and
health education =AD to at-risk individuals.=94