USED NEEDLE BINS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR NELSON PARK

Police and school officials are opposing the installation of bins for used
needles in Nelson Park, despite increasing evidence the park and adjoining
school grounds are being used by addicts to shoot up.

Ian Cannon, vice principal responsible for Lord Roberts Annex at the corner
of Bute and Nelson streets, said parents found 22 discarded needles on and
around the school grounds in one day last September.

Since then, parent and teacher patrols have been finding needles on the
grounds every week.

"We find needles on the grounds and on the walkways our children use to get
to school," said Cannon, who was posted to the school in September.

Vancouver Police Insp. Dave Jones, the officer responsible for the downtown
area, said the 2.2-hectare park is the most troublesome on his beat.

He attributes the increasing number of needles in the park to several
factors, including the nearby Dust to Dawn Youth Centre, which tosses out
clients each morning at 7 a.m. Another factor is the proximity to Granville
and Davie streets and St. Paul's Hospital's Dr. Peter Centre, which hands
out needles to registered users.

Maxine Davis, executive director of the Dr. Peter Centre, has suggested that
needle bins be placed around the park to help addicts clean up after
themselves, saying if the bins only collect a few needles a week, they would
be well worth it.

But both Jones and Cannon reject the idea. Jones argues putting in bins is
tantamount to condoning drug use in the park. He also points out most
injection drug users in Vancouver favour cocaine over heroin, which means
they're more intoxicated and less likely to use a bin then a heroin user.

"If we had heroin addicts again I would think bins would help the addict
population. I always liked heroin addicts, but I've never cared much for
cocaine addicts. Heroin addicts have always been a much more functional
group," said Jones, adding the surge in HIV and hepatitis C infection among
needle users is partly due to the switch from heroin to cocaine injection.
"Cocaine addicts are completely indiscriminate in their behaviour and use."

Cannon has other fears: he's concerned a child could break into the bin
without knowing its contents. A better idea, he says, is for the parks board
to install rubber matting in the playgrounds instead of bark mulch so
needles can be more readily found.

"The problem with bins is it won't discourage use and that's what we want
for the park," Cannon said.

Last October, as a result of complaints from residents and Lord Roberts
school, the parks board asked staff to come up with solutions to the
problem. That report has yet to be completed.

About 3.5 million needles a year are handed out to addicts in Vancouver,
mostly through the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society.

Jones said he does not believe claims by DEYAS that it collects each of the
needles its members hand out.