NEEDLE USE ON THE RISE IN CITY

In 2002 the number of used needles exchanged for clean ones has gone up
dramatically compared to previous years.

This is why the local needle exchange coalition is asking the Haliburton
Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit to help fund the cost of supplies
given out in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

The needle exchange coalition is a group of several social service groups
who have organized 10 exchange sites in Peterborough, Northumberland and
Haliburton counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes.

Stationed at either the offices of the agencies involved or through private
sites such as pharmacies, injection drug users may exchange their used
needles and supplies for free, clean items.

In Lindsay the needle exchange is based at Guardian Drugs.

Charles Shamess of PARN -- Your Community AIDS Resource Network and a
spokesperson for the needle exchange coalition says that in the calendar
year for 2001, the number of needles exchanged in the City of Kawartha
Lakes were almost too few to count.

However by 2002, numbers grew to more than 5,300.

The coalition estimates that about 150 users in Haliburton and
Northumberland Counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes use the exchange.

Mr. Shamess accounts for this rise with two factors.

"People were coming here to Peterborough. We know that because they would
tell us. As well, although we had an exchange site they (users) either
didn't know about us or were reluctant to use the site," he says.

He also notes that users now have better access to a greater Toronto area
clinic which prescribes methadone, used to help curb the abuse of both
illegal and prescription drugs.

Information on the methadone clinic is available at the needle exchange site.

"The large majority who inject are using illegal prescription drugs," he says.

These drugs, such as percocet, percodan and dilaudid can be obtained with a
prescription legally, then made into a liquid form and sold on the street.

The coalition has asked the local health unit for $800 to help cover the
cost of the exchange in the health unit's catchment area.

The health unit does not currently provide funds for the exchange.

Mr. Shamess says the cost is covered by members of the coalition, as well
as donations from the public.

He says that often there is a negative response to the exchange.

A common misconception, he says, is that it condones and increases drug use.

"Actually it has been shown that people who access a needle exchange become
more interested in their own health," he says. Whether it is simply using
clean needles, or pursuing a life without drugs, he says there is no
evidence that the exchange has increased drug use.

Mr. Shamess also notes that if one HIV or Hepatitis C infection is
prevented through the exchange, it will save the healthcare system hundreds
of thousands of dollars in the long run.

Bill Eekoff, a spokesperson for the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District
Health Unit says it has indeed been approached for funding.

Mr. Eekoff said it was likely to be included on the agenda for yesterday's
(Thursday's) board of health meeting.

From a policing standpoint, Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Randy Martin says
he believes there is an increase of injection drug use in Lindsay and Ops
Township, a statement he says is backed up by the quantity of drugs seized
by officers and information received by the police service through Crime
Stoppers and other sources.

He says the increase of injection drug use lies mostly in cocaine and crack
cocaine use which can be attributed to population growth in the force's
policing jurisdiction and to cocaine being the current "drug of choice"
among injection users.

"At times you do see the influx into the chemical drugs," Chief Martin
says, noting he has seen several other drugs, including cannabis become
"popular" with users over his policing career.

He says injection drug use is also an issue that will continue to fester as
more and more people move to the area, a trend that could directly
compromise officer safety.

"It's more likely that they'll come into contact with someone carrying
needles."

Chief Martin says he also believes the illegal use of prescription
injection drugs is on the rise in the area.

"I do not have the statistics in front of me, but we have entered into two
double-doctoring investigations in 2002," he says.

Double-doctoring is a term used to describe the act of trying to fill a
drug prescription fraudulently.

In the rest of the city, City of Kawartha Lakes OPP Constable Ted Schendera
says the detachment hasn't seen evidence of a rise of injection drug use,
particularly cocaine.

"I can't easily say we've seen an increase in that type of drug use," he
says, noting officers have instead been faced with an influx of
marijuana-growing operations, both indoors and outdoors.

Const. Schendera does say prescription drugs continue to be abused in the
city, most often by people not intended to have the drugs in the first place.