Pubdate: Thu, 3 Jan 2008
Source: Campbell River Mirror (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Campbell River Mirror
Contact:  http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1380
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/crack+pipes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

FREE CRACK PIPES TO BE HANDED OUT|

Campbell River is one of four Island communities that will soon offer 
free crack pipes.

Needle exchange sites in Campbell River, Courtenay, Nanaimo and 
Victoria will soon expand to offer crack pipe distribution 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," she said.

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," she said.

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.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake