RESEARCH GROUP CLAIMS 'SEASONAL TREND' BEHIND NEEDLE EXCHANGE INCREASE, NOT
COPS

A leading HIV-AIDS research group is questioning a claim by the city's
largest needle exchange that business is up despite a police crackdown in
the Downtown Eastside.

Judy McGuire, director of health outreach programs for the Downtown
Eastside Youth Activities Society, which operates the needle exchange, told
the Courier earlier this week that the number of syringes distributed in
May was higher than in March, up from 112,396 syringes to 174,989.

But, in a June 19 letter to Mayor Larry Campbell, researcher Evan Wood and
Dr. Martin Schechter of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS say the
increase reflects a "seasonal trend," and it would be "dangerous" to
suggest it's the result of increased police presence.

Wood and Schechter point out that DEYAS' statistics for April and May of
2003 are much lower than the same period last year. In fact, they say
reductions in needle distribution range from 10 per cent at DEYAS Main
Street site to 73 per cent on one of its van routes.

"Given that each case of HIV is expected to cost the taxpayer greater than
$150,000, we believe that the public at large will only accept an
evidence-based drug strategy that is based on valid data and is guided by
sound evaluation."

The letter says no published study has ever found that beefed-up police
presence can increase the demand for needles.

"On the contrary, we have previously published data from the Vancouver
Injection Drug Users Study that Vancouver injection drug users may have
difficulty accessing syringes as a result of police presence around the
needle exchange."

The police crackdown on drug dealers began April 7, with a team of 60 cops
in uniform. The project immediately prompted HIV-AIDS organizations, the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Pivot Legal Society to predict
the blitz would lead to a sharing of syringes and a spike in HIV-AIDS cases
because addicts would be afraid to visit needle exchanges.

But McGuire said earlier this week she welcomes the increased police
presence, which has encouraged older and more vulnerable users who had been
frightened to leave their hotel rooms at night to use the service.

Contacted Thursday, McGuire said she doesn't dispute the decrease in
exchange numbers since last year. But McGuire said she has never said the
decrease-or the increase from March to May-is solely because of police
presence on the streets.

She said other factors, such as the prevalence of addicts smoking crack
cocaine and crystal methamphetamine, also have to be taken into account.

"I certainly stand behind what we're doing, and what we're seeing," McGuire
said. "But we're by far not the only source of needles in the city. So if
everybody else has dropped off and we're the only people who are picking up
a raise, then maybe there is an issue to deal with."

The Vancouver Police Department is expected to deliver a report on its
blitz against drug dealers to council next month. An independent evaluation
will also be done at the request of partners in the Vancouver Agreement,
which include several levels of government, the health authority and police.