Pubdate: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC) Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs. Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837 Author: Patrick Colvin Page: 5 LANGLEY MISSING OUT ON NEEDLE EDUCATION: COUNCILLOR Langley city council voted down a motion Sept. 14 to have staff report back on advice and recommendations on the viability of a needle exchange program - leaving one councillor concerned about their lack of understanding regarding harm-reduction practices. "Many of these people, not only on council but on staff, have no concept whatsoever of the term harm reduction, so that's why I served that notice of motion," said Coun. Dave Hall. "It was a request for education, so if you look at the details of the motion, it wasn't advocating a needle exchange, it wasn't advocating needle depositories, it was simply asking staff to go and look at what other communities are doing and come back to council and basically educate them." Hall said needles have been found in schoolyards and other "hot spots" around Langley, like private properties with absentee owners. According to Coun. Gayle Martin, city staff had already been looking into needle depositories unbeknownst to city council, so they were given the go-ahead to report back to council on that. But the idea of researching needle exchange programs was rejected. "The majority of council certainly does not want a needle exchange in our city," she said. UBC professor of medicine Thomas Kerr said council members are living "in the stone age." "Needle exchange is the single-most effective way of preventing HIV infection and reversing an existing epidemic," said Kerr. "So quite frankly these types of political discussion about should we have a needle exchange, as a scientist, I find them embarrassing." - --- MAP posted-by: Matt