NEEDLE PROGRAM BENEFICIAL

Needle exchanges like the AIDS Vancouver Island program have been
shown to reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. They
also serve as a bridge to drug treatment for an especially hard to
reach population. Drug users are not the only beneficiaries. Consider
the tragic experience of Canada's southern neighbor. U.S. Centers for
Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases
among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the U.S. are
linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs.

This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of
zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes. Can Canada
afford to emulate the harm maximization approach of the former land of
the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated?

ROBERT SHARPE

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy