FREE CRACK MOUTHPIECES ON THE WAY

B.C. Government Will Fund Distribution To Addicts As Early As April
Kate Webb The Province

Crack-pipe mouthpieces are soon to join syringes, alcohol swabs and
water vials on the list of free supplies distributed by the B.C.
government to drug users.

Starting as early as April, the Ministry of Health will set aside
funding for pieces of sterile surgical tubing that can be attached to
the end of a crack pipe. The two-to-five-centimetre mouthpieces will
be available upon request to B.C.'s five health authorities, the goal
being to prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as hepatitis C.

"People who smoke crack often burn their lips and have sores on their
lips, and that sore can have blood in it," said Dr. Perry Kendall,
chief medical health officer for B.C.

"A well-run [mouthpiece] program offers a lot of promise to reduce
blood-borne diseases and to introduce people to health care and
addiction treatment services as well."

Kendall said crack users also risk contracting potentially fatal
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as syphilis, by
sharing pipes.

The decision by the Provincial Harm Reduction Committee to fund the
program was announced following the Dec. 12 release of a new study,
HCV Transmission Among Oral Crack Users, by the Centre for Addictions
Research B.C.

The study was conducted on 51 inner-city crack-cocaine users in
Toronto in 2006, 22 of whom tested positive for the hepatitis C virus
antibody. The virus itself was found on a single pipe owned by one of
the 22 infected users. "They recovered the viruses from a crack pipe,
so it clearly can be a method of transmission," Kendall said, adding
the supply of sterile mouthpieces could save B.C. millions in health care.

Based on nationwide figures from the Canadian Institute for Health
Research, Kendall estimated the bill for British Columbians with
hepatitis C falls between $71 million and $143 million each year. In
contrast, he estimated each disposable piece of tubing costs
fractions of a penny.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority confirmed yesterday it will
take advantage of the supply of free mouthpieces, and Vancouver
Coastal Health spokeswoman Viviana Zanocco said orders are also
likely to be placed in the Lower Mainland.

"If they're available I can't see a reason why we wouldn't," said
Zanocco. "They would likely be distributed through community health
centres, places like Insite or addiction services. You can get
needles and condoms there, so I'm sure you'll be able to get
[mouthpieces] there."

Ann Livingston, program co-ordinator for the Vancouver Area Network
of Drug Users, thinks the program could also reduce the number of
deaths among Downtown Eastside crack users from pneumonia, which can
be spread by sharing pipes.

"About 15 of our members probably died last year of pneumonia," she
said. "The people who were dying were more likely to be people who
smoked crack cocaine."

FACTS ON HEPATITIS C

- - There is no vaccine for hepatitis C.

- - 80 per cent of those infected have no signs or symptoms.

- - Symptoms, when they do appear, include jaundice, fatigue, dark
urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and nausea.

- - The virus is spread by blood through sharing needles or pipes, or
from an infected mother to her baby during birth.

- - 70 per cent of carriers experience chronic liver disease, and
hepatitis C is the leading indication for liver transplants.

- - Between one and five per cent of people with chronic liver disease
die from it.

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