Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 Source: Campbell River Mirror (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 Campbell River Mirror Contact: http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1380 Author: Grant Warkentin CRACK COCAINE ADDICTS JUST CAN'T QUIT Even if they wanted to, the city's crack cocaine users can't "get clean" because there are few treatment programs available. The findings were released in a new study which relyed on interviews with crack users in Campbell River, Nanaimo and Prince George. "Numerous study participants stated that even going for detoxification would make little sense for them, since there are so few available treatment options to enter after detoxification," the study's authors wrote, "and most users end up in their previous drug-use environments and habits. "On this basis, most participants saw any attempt to quit crack use as a futile effort in the long run." As well, big-city problems associated with crack cocaine are on the rise in Campbell River and need to be dealt with immediately, concludes the study. "In many B.C. communities, crack use is the number-one street drug problem, yet we give it much lower attention than other forms of drug use," said Benedikt Fischer, lead author of the study which will be published next month in Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. "We need better and more targeted prevention and treatment for crack use in order to reduce its enormous negative public health impact." Fischer, a health sciences researcher from Simon Fraser University, led a team which interviewed crack users from July-November 2008. They found participants with the help of local social and health service agencies, and also by word-of-mouth recruiting among the local population of drug users. Participants had to be at least 16 years old, be regular crack cocaine smokers (smoking on at least half of the 30 days before their interviews) and provide informed verbal consent. No personal information was collected, and each participant received a $20 honorarium. There were 148 participants in the study, 37 in Campbell River, 70 in Nanaimo and 41 in Prince George. On average, the study showed crack use is associated with, "extensive social and health risks and harms, which currently are not sufficiently addressed by the existing interventions in the study sites," it says. "Concerted attention to, and delivery of, targeted prevention and treatment interventions for the public health problem of crack use in Canada is urgently required." Many of the crack users are likely to be homeless, be involved in criminal activity, be using a wide variety of other drugs and alcohol, and to be smoking up unsafely with home-made paraphernalia, putting themselves and others at risk of transmitted diseases. A big problem There aren't enough treatment and harm reduction programs in Campbell River to help crack users. "There's a huge need for them here," said Del Grimstad, a positive wellness counsellor and harm reduction worker with AIDS Vancouver Island's Campbell River office. But it's not easy to set up new programs. Two years ago, AIDS Vancouver Island launched a program to distribute mouthpieces for crack smokers in several communities, including Campbell River. The mouthpieces are designed to prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and syphilis. However, the program prompted some public concerns. The distribution program is still awaiting the approval of city council, Grimstad said. How to fix it? The study recommends several ways to treat crack users, and reduce the number of people addicted in small cities such as Campbell River. It recommends: - - Improved resources and training for health workers. - - Improved accessibility to infectious-disease testing. - - "Crack kit" distribution programs. - - Safer inhalation facilities for crack users. Local crack users - - Have, on average, been using for 12.8 years, longer than people in Nanaimo or Prince George. - - Typically make their own crack-smoking paraphernalia with found items or items purchased in a store. - - Are mostly male (56.8 per cent of respondents). - - Are mostly between the ages of 21-50. - - Generally have either stable housing, or no housing. - - Get most of their income from social benefits. - - Have been arrested at least once in the past year (48.5 per cent). - - Report a higher percentage of mental and emotional health problems than respondents in the other two communities. - - Use more alcohol as well as crack (78.4 per cent) than the other two communities. - - Have had more overdoses (four) than the other two communities. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart