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One for one exchange is not a bad idea.


Talk Radio Exposes Flawed Needle Exchange Program
Posted May 30, 2008 - 12:35pm by John Gormley

When it came to light on our show, a month or so back, it was one of those shake your head and ask "what" moments.

Saskatchewan's public health needle exchange program for intravenous drug users -- a well intentioned project begun in the early 1990s -- has spiralled out of control.

In small Prince Albert, a city of 40,000 people, 600,000 syringes are handed out to junkies. In Saskatoon, a city of 240,000 there are 1.1 million needles given out a year. And, in Regina, with about 200,000 people, an incredible 2.3 million needles are given away, mainly in the inner city, to drug users.

The plan is to prevent HIV/AIDS and Hep C tranmission by IV drug users sharing needles. The reality is that drug pushers are now getting literally bucket loads of new syringes, which they promptly pre-load with cocaine and offer, for $20 bucks a hit, in so-called shot houses.

All in the name of "harm reduction", this free needle thing is starting to cause harm: increasing access to drugs, getting more people to try IV drugs, not to mention putting the health of families at risk when thousands of discarded syringes show up in city parks and on street corners.

After running with this subject on our show for a month -- and pinning down public health and justice officials -- it's clear that something is very wrong. But there may be help on the way.

We have learned that Health Minister Don McMorris has now ordered an external review of the needle exchange programs. Thanks Minister and don't be buffaloed by those who gotten too close to this issue to see the real solutions.

One of our listeners put it best. Here's his letter:

" Dear John,

I am glad to see that you are continuing to follow this issue. I am a family physician and have been involved in addiction medicine for 18 years and I have experience with addicts and with treatment options.

I am convinced that needle exchange programs are out of control and that "Harm reduction" is not working in its present form.

I recently saw a case of an addict who died as a result of his drug abuse. When his family cleaned out his apartment they found 3500 clean needles and syringes stashed in his closet. He did not have the means to purchase these so obviously had gotten them through an exchange program. He died from his drug abuse. For him, there was no "harm reduction".

Part of the difficulty is in how the different stakeholders view this term. In the past I have been at meetings regarding methadone programs in which members of a city police force made it clear that they were happy if the program lead to less property crime. For them, "harm reduction" did not mean improving the health of addicts or even lessening the spread of hepatitis and HIV, it only meant less crime.
For many in the health community "harm reduction" only means out of sight, out of mind.
In my opinion, needle exchanges, safe injection sites, etc. are simply abandoning a whole segment of our society. Addicts need treatment. They do not need us making it easier for them to continue in their addiction and ultimately die from it.
I would like to see all of the monies being wasted on "harm reduction" redirected to treatment programs. We need more detox and more rehab beds. We need properly funded and properly run methadone programs. We need to make it easier for addicts to access treatment including methadone.
We need to help them up out of their circumstances and not condemn them to continue in them.

Thank you."
To this brave Doctor, no -- thank YOU.