MONEY KEEPS NEEDLE EXCHANGE MOVING

Greater Victoria's mobile needle exchange project will remain on the road
until at least September thanks to a $7,500 grant from the Vancouver Island
Health Authority.

Run by the Victoria Aids Resource and Community Service Society, the
18-month-old project was facing extinction due to a lack of funding.

The new money will keep Mobile X, as it is called, operating for another
six months, said VARCS executive director Michael Yoder.

Yoder said the rate of HIV infection among intravenous drug users in
Victoria is estimated at 22 per cent, while up to 80 per cent are infected
with hepatitis C, which spreads more easily.

"Either way, if you're using all your own stuff, you will not get hep C or
HIV," Yoder said.

Any further funding for Mobile X will depend on the health authority's
response to a project proposal that VARCS has been invited to submit over
the summer.