PUBLIC HEALTH STARTING NEEDLE EXCHANGES

Aim Is To Keep Injection Drug Users Healthy

A needle exchange program will start in Walkerton this fall as part
of a year-long pilot project that includes sites in Owen Sound and Hanover.

The medical officer of health told Bruce County councillors on
Friday that the project will offer counselling, testing and clean
needles in an effort to keep injection drug users as healthy as possible.

"There are certainly people who use injection drugs daily and still
keep a job . . . the goal is to keep drug users healthy and show
some interest in their health," said Dr. Hazel Lynn.

The project will assess the extent of injection drug use in the area.

Lynn said the supply of clean needles will help stop the spread of
blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C. She noted there
are 65 new cases of deadly hepatitis C each year in the area, many
caused by sharing dirty needles and other drug paraphernalia.

A similar program has been operating out of the Owen Sound office of
the public health unit. Final negotiations are under way to set up
needle exchange locations at a drop-in centre in Owen Sound and a
pharmacy in Hanover.

The pharmacy was chosen partly because drug users are already
getting their needles at pharmacies, said Denna Leach, program
manager of health promotion for the health unit. Pharmacies are also
open later in the evening than the health unit.

The needle exchange packages will contain information about where
users can get help and phone numbers for referrals.

Grey-Bruce is one of only three public health units without a needle
exchange program. Such programs are mandatory public health programs
in areas of Ontario where injection drug use is recognized as a
problem in the community.

The year-long study will help determine the extent of the problem
and whether a full-time program is needed.

Plans to run the needle exchange program at the Walkerton offices of
the public health unit, which are located in the Bruce County
administration building, is a cause for concern for Bruce County
administration.

Wayne Jamieson, the county's chief administrative officer,
questioned whether there was enough security for needle exchange
program in a building that is open to the public and used by
administration staff.

He worries that participants in the program would use public
washrooms in the building to shoot up or discard used needles on
their way in or out of the health unit.

"We need to sit down and discuss this," Jamieson said.

Lynn said participants in the needle exchange program must follow a
code of conduct, which prohibits them from carrying drugs with them.
They can be arrested if found to violate the agreement.

She turned down a suggestion that the program be run out of the
Walkerton hospital.

Coun. Larry Kraemer said while there isn't a perfect place for such
a program, it makes sense to have it at the health unit with its
trained staff. "If it causes problems, we can deal with that," he said.

Leach said there's an estimated 300 injection drug users in
Grey-Bruce including steroid users. The majority are located in Owen
Sound and Hanover.

Leach said data shows there's an average 18 per cent decline in HIV
in cities that have needle exchange programs while cities without
such programs the incidence of HIV increases by 8.1 per cent.

She said there's an important public education component to the
program. She noted that needle exchange programs don't encourage the
initiation of injection drug use nor does it increase the duration
or frequency of injection drug use and 95 per cent of people who
take part in a needle exchange stop risky injection behaviours.

Leach said it's important not to stereotype injection drug users as
vagrants living on the street, which is more common in big cities.
Most are in their late 30s and 40s. Some are students. Many manage
to keep a job.

"We are studying where we can best create programs that will target
areas in the north and the south of the region" said Leach.