FREE CRACK KITS HIT CITY STREETS TO CURB SPREAD OF DISEASE

Ottawa's Site needle exchange program will start distributing crack
equipment to drug users next month in an attempt to curb skyrocketing rates
of Hepatitis C among addicts.

Beginning April 1, crack smokers will be able to receive clean glass stems,
mouthpieces, and safe inhalation information from various locations in
Centretown.

Paul Lavigne, co-ordinator of the program, says the initiative focuses on
education and encourages safer drug use.

"We're going to teach people how to use the products as opposed to the ones
they are currently using, and we're going to educate people how to reduce
their harm so they don't end up with burnt lips and open sores," he says.

Makeshift crack pipes made from materials such as aluminum cans, inhalers
or copper tubing often cause burns and cuts to the lips. When users share
such pipes, it leads to the spread of diseases like Hepatitis C and HIV.

A report released last year by Ottawa's chief medical officer of health
stated 75 per cent of the city's injection drug users are infected with
Hepatitis C -- a disease that can cause cancer, liver failure and death.

Lavigne says one of the goals is to attract users who would ordinarily have
no contact with health services.

"The experiences from other cities tell us that we are most likely to see
many new clients so we'll get in touch with a whole population that we
don't know," says Lavigne. "We are usually, for many people, the first and
only access point to the health care system. It becomes key that we reach
people because the more people that are marginalized the more the diseases
can transmit."

The City of Toronto has been distributing crack kits for ten years. Frank
Coburn, a harm reduction outreach worker with Street Health in Toronto,
says the program has virtually eliminated the use of unsafe crack pipes and
has encouraged users to seek medical treatment.

"You hardly ever see any of the old pipes any longer -- everybody comes
here and picks up new ones. We can't keep up," says Coburn. "People who
come in to access crack pipes in this establishment also find time now to
attend to other health needs that they have."

Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes is chair of the Health, Recreation and
Social Services Committee that approved the program last fall. She says the
service offers a cheap proactive means to reduce dependency on health services.

"I think it's really necessary. We have to try all methods of keeping our
disease spreading down as much as we can and this is one way," she says.
"It's a lot cheaper to give out these kits than it is to deal with
full-blown Hepatitis C."

But critics argue programs that cater to drug users such as needle
exchanges and Vancouver's safe injection site only encourage drug habits.

Holmes says such complaints are unfounded. "These are drug users out there
now. They are becoming less and less healthy and costing us more and more
money," says Holmes. "I don't think that giving clean equipment is the
reason why people would or wouldn't use drugs."

Drug users can exchange used drug paraphernalia for clean equipment via the
program's mobile van that operates throughout the city between 6 p.m. and
midnight, seven days a week.