Pubdate: Thu, 01 Feb 2007
Source: Capital Xtra! (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 Pink Triangle Press
Contact:  http://www.xtra.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2153
Author: Adam Graham
Note: The author is the Gay Men's Prevention coordinator at the AIDS 
Committee Of Ottawa. He thanks Shannon Wilmott for her help with this column.

CRACK PIPES ARE A QUEER ISSUE

Health-Based Approach Was Developed by Gays for HIV

Queer people get sidelined a lot -- and we've become accustomed to 
that. But there is a pretty big difference between getting used to 
something and putting up with it. What we've accomplished -- from the 
original march on Parliament Hill in 1971 with the "We Demand" 
document to the passage of same sex marriage in 2005 &mdash speaks 
directly to that. We don't put up with the homophobic, false logic 
that queers should suffer unfair treatment in the eyes of the law or 
within our communities. So why would we put up with the same false 
logic with services that affect us in our own community?

Ottawa's crack pipe program has been in operation since 2005 and has 
continually been under fire from local politicians and the police 
services -- and queer people have a stake in this. Our families still 
throw us onto the street, we still suffer higher rates poverty in our 
lives and we are still more likely to suffer hate-related violence. 
And &mdash guess what -- we smoke crack, too. Some studies show that 
queer youth are eight times more likely to use crack than 
non-queer-identified youth, which means we have a burgeoning 
demographic of queer adult crack users. That poses some pretty 
dangerous problems for us when our politicians are constantly on the 
edge of deciding to yank away a program that has proven results.

Scrapping a program that has been proven to improve our health -- 
like needle exchanges and the crack pipe program -- is literally 
playing with people's lives.

Programs that reduce the harm involved with using drugs work. One 
study found that the percentage of people in Ottawa sharing crack 
pipes every time they used fell from 37 percent to 13 percent only a 
year into the program.

There is "real evidence of behaviour change," according to Dr Lynne 
Leonard's HIV Prevention Research Team at the University Of Ottawa.

One of the main risks involved in smoking crack involves sharing 
pipes, which are often made out of items like aluminum cans. The cans 
heat up quickly and tend to burn users' lips when smoking. Burned 
lips means open sores which, in the end, means an increased chance of 
transmitting both Hepatitis C and HIV.

Having a crack pipe program means that those of us who are offering 
the service get to have conversations with the people picking up 
items that allow them to inhale more safely.

In fact, according to the same University Of Ottawa study, there have 
been about 4400 conversations between crack users and community workers.

That's pretty significant considering that historically, crack users 
have been found to have unequal access to social services.

In the gay community, we have learned to become meaningful advocates 
for ourselves.

You have to when you're considered to be illegal or when you're 
infected with a virus that was initially classified as a "gay 
disease." We have a great history of thinking outside the box, being 
tolerant and mobilizing to demand what we deserve. We have a right to 
health and we all deserve to be treated with respect.

What's criminal is denying someone's right to access a service that 
has been proven to reduce harm and support a healthy life just 
because that person uses drugs.

The police already get plenty of money for their role in fighting 
drug addiction.

According to the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 73 percent of the 
funding for the illicit drug portion of Canada's drug strategy is 
spent on enforcement measures. Everything else -- research devoted to 
the use of drugs, treatment programs and initiatives that promote the 
health of users themselves -- share a scant 26 percent of those 
funds. A 2005 report by the Health Officers Council of British 
Columbia demonstrates that two of the main barriers to implementing 
health-focussed initiatives like Ottawa's crack pipe program, are the 
tendency for protection services to guard their own bank accounts, as 
well as lack of political will by governments to tackle controversial issues.

We know this program works, we know it improves the health of people 
in our community and we know it costs the city very little money.

The queer community has a strong history of finding creative 
solutions and making change through activism, and it is time for us 
to come together again on this issue and continue our story of 
demanding what we deserve.

Speak to City Council during the public session Feb 19 to 23 and sign 
up for a five-minute minute time slot. Write letters to council and the media.

Join us in a rally.

For more information, and if you're interested in getting clean 
works, come to the office at the AIDS Committee of Ottawa, 251 Bank 
Street, Suite 700 or call 613-238-5014 .
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MAP posted-by: Elaine