COURTENAY WILL OFFER CRACK PIPE DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM

Courtenay is one of four Vancouver Island communities that will offer
crack pipe distribution programs in the near future.

Needle exchange sites in Courtenay, Campbell River, Nanaimo and
Victoria will offer the programs.

For the first time, the Ministry of Health's harm-reduction supply and
services program will fund crack-pipe components, such as plastic
mouthpieces and filters.

The BC Harm Reduction Supply Services Policy has approved various
tools for harm reduction, including needles, explained Jocelyn
Stanton, the Vancouver Island Health Authority's communications adviser.

Mouthpieces and push sticks for crack pipes will be made available to
health authorities next year, she said.

"When it comes to a harm reduction strategy, it is about protecting
those who are suffering from addictions and the public from the risk
of communicable disease."

The mouthpieces and push sticks will be distributed provincewide
through the BC Centre for Disease Control.

"We're continuing to work very closely with communities for harm
reduction. We absolutely are very, very committed to that. It is
really something that needs a community-level approach for sure," said
Stanton.

Vancouver Island's new distribution program follows the release of a
new study, HCV Transmission Among Oral Crack Users, suggesting sharing
crack cocaine pipes could possibly transmit hepatitis C virus between
users.

The study, released Dec. 12 by the University of Victoria-based Centre
for Addictions Research BC, was conducted on 51 inner-city crack users
in Toronto in 2006. The virus was detected on one of the 22 crack
pipes tested because owners had tested positive for the hepatitis C
virus antibody.

"It's to really minimize the risk of the spread of hepatitis C," said
Stanton.

When drug-users share crack pipes, they sustain burns, which puts them
at risk for abscess and disease, she explained.