Pubdate: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Nicole Baute, The Ottawa Citizen PROTESTERS URGE CITY NOT TO CUT CRACK-KIT FUNDS Drug Users Will Be At Greater Risk If Program Dies, Advocates Warn "Crack kits save lives" was the simple chorus of about 25 protesters who paced in front of City Hall with bristol board signs, noisemakers and a megaphone yesterday afternoon. With Mayor Larry O'Brien's campaign promise to cut Ottawa's safe crack pipe program still ringing in their ears, protesters demanded city council recognize the program as a public health initiative that, if axed in the 2007 budget, could leave many drug users at greater risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C. The program has faced criticism from Ottawa police, who say it encourages drug use, sending a message that it's OK to smoke crack. But advocates insist the program encourages addicts to use clean pipes rather than needles or used homemade pipes, making it a simple measure to keep users from contracting blood borne infections that can kill them. Supporters also say the program puts drug users in contact with health care workers and resources they may not otherwise encounter. The city currently contributes an annual sum of about $8,000 to the program, according to the AIDS Committee of Ottawa. Khaled Salam of the AIDS Committee of Ottawa spoke before city council yesterday, which was listening to presentations from the public as part of the 2007 budget deliberations. Mr. Salam called the crack pipe program a way to "reduce human suffering," and said it would be "unethical" to neglect it. He said there are 3,300 injection drug users in Ottawa, and that the prevalence of HIV-infected injection drug users doubled between 1992 and 2002, jumping to 21 per cent from 10 per cent. "While helping users abstain from substances is one appropriate long-term goal for some people, harm reduction strategies place the emphasis on the most immediate, achievable and positive changes, whether or not they can be proven to reduce consumption," Mr. Salam said. Emily Meadows was at City hall yesterday to represent an HIV prevention research team from the University of Ottawa. Ms. Meadows said the research team's studies showed about a quarter of users switched from injecting drugs to smoking them as a result of the crack pipe program, which began in 2005. She said smoking crack is significantly less harmful than injecting it. The study, led by Dr. Lynne Leonard, also found that before the program existed, 37 per cent of users who shared pipes reported sharing every time they smoked crack. One year into the program, that number was down to 13 per cent, which the research team considered a huge success. Five years ago, protester Krista Driscoll, 21, was living on the streets and using drugs. She said because the crack pipe program and others like it keep users from contracting serious diseases, it gives them a better chance to turn their life around one day, like she has. "Everyone does things in their life that they regret," she said. "It shouldn't affect the rest of your life because you made a few bad decisions." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek