Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2002 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Allen Garr Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) RAID SHOWS LACK OF TRUST IN HARM REDUCTION That bust at Main and Hastings a week and a half ago-where Vancouver cops shut down the needle exchange-shows you just how fragile the implementation of the harm reduction policy really is, and how little trust exists among the major players. The nightly needle exchange has been running out of a tent next to the Carnegie Centre for the past two years. Supplies are funded by what is now called the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, part of the provincial health system. Addicts from the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) provide the volunteers who deal out about 1,000 needles every night. This is considered a low threshhold exchange. Unlike other exchanges run out of clinics, there is no medical or educational help. The sole purpose is to reduce the spread of disease caused by dirty needles. Every other Tuesday, there is a meeting at the Carnegie Centre of all the groups-including city staff, the cops and the health authority-involved in implementing the harm reduction policy. For some time now, the cops have been complaining about the Main and Hastings needle exchange. The health authority folks say they were never "formally" told there were concerns about illegal activities. Further, there is a strong suspicion throughout the harm reduction community that, in spite of statements to the contrary, the city police are not really on side. Remember those Vancouver cops in the Odd Squad who helped organize the IDEAS drug conference a few weeks ago? It was designed to attack the drug policy endorsed by the city and the police department and specifically to decry the harm caused by needle exchanges. Their views seem to be shared by Inspector Ken Frail, who has specific responsibility for the Downtown Eastside. After the Main and Hastings incident, he told one reporter: "This is addicts giving needles to addicts. I question, myself, how that's going to create a useful intervention. I don't see how we're going to break that cycle by giving needles without some kind of medical intervention." It would be easy enough to argue that Frail and the gang of cops involved in this action to shut down the needle exchange were a bunch of cowboys operating inside a department that lacks leadership and vision. There's a lame duck and frequently absent chief,Terry Blythe, and a police board headed by a lame duck mayor, Philip Owen. The raid could also be seen as a bit of harassment and a ploy to divert attention from the fact that for years, the cops have failed to deal with Vancouver's drug problem. Rather than sit down and work out a solution for the needle exchange to operate better, the police just charged in with guns blazing. While much of that may be true, there is more. The health authority is not totally innocent. It may claim it had no formal notification from the cops of illegal activities at the needle exchange. But, realizing how jumpy the cops are about this whole program, and how important their co-operation is, the health authority could have moved a lot faster to deal with police concerns about the crowds on the corner and the conduct of volunteers at the exchange. As for VANDU, they should have done more to keep their own house in order. The cops claim that just before the bust, one volunteer was smoking crack, and, as incredible as it may sound in the midst of Canada's most active illegal drug market place, another volunteer felt the need to lead an undercover cop by the arm to a drug dealer. All of this, I'm reliably informed, is recorded on video. At this point, none of the parties can risk pushing this policy off the rails. That needle exchange is necessary. The cops should calm down, the health authority should get a grip and VANDU should clean up its act. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake