Pubdate: Thu, 24 May 2007 Source: North Bay Nugget (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 North Bay Nugget Contact: http://www.nugget.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2226 Author: Bryn Weese Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) HEALTH UNIT COLLECTING MORE DIRTY NEEDLES Program Highly Successful In 06 The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit board of directors learned Wednesday that heroin addicts are finally getting the message and turning in their dirty needles. The health unit's decade-old needle exchange program, which gives addicts clean needles and other drug paraphernalia in exchange for dirty equipment, reported an 89 per cent return rate on the needles it gave out in 2006. That figure, the highest recorded for the health unit, is up substantially from previous years. "(The increase) is a result of advocacy from one of our board members requesting that we look at why, in previous years, there had been a low return rate," said medical officer of health Dr. Catherine Whiting, noting the request led front-line staffers to start encouraging drug users to return their needles. She said the higher rate of return means "it's less likely that they (the needles) will be in places where others could come to harm from exposure to the needles." The exchange program, which is mandated by the province, has two components, Whiting said. The first part of the program is to decrease the transmission of diseases, particularly blood borne infections, by providing clean needles for addicts, and discouraging them from using dirty needles. The second component is to have the dirty needles returned to the exchange site to be disposed of appropriately. But board members Daryl Vaillancourt and Judy Koziol, both city councillors, said they don't support the program because they believe it encourages drug use. Following the meeting, Whiting said the program isn't only designed to provide clean needles and safely dispose of dirty ones. It also provides counselling to addicts and directs them to other services, including the local methadone clinic, which helps heroine addicts kick the habit. There are three needle exchange sites - at the health unit's Commercial Street office, the AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area and the Nipissing Detoxification Centre. The health unit is looking to expand the program to offer needle exchanges in Parry Sound and elsewhere in the district. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman