City in Crisis: Addiction

PRINCE GEORGE – There are four pillars to deal ing with drug addition: Prevention, law enforcement, harm reduction and treatment. The HIV-AIDS Prevention Program, formally the needle exchange is part of the harm reduction pillar. Contrary to what many people think, it has not been a needle exchange for years.

“Through lots of research and evidence across Canada and through the Province, that was sort of not considered best practice any more,” explains Reanne Sanford, Regional Nursing Lead of Harm Reduction for Northern Health. “So now we offer distribution and recovery. So we allow for people to bring in their used supplies for proper disposal but we also distribute supplies that are in quantities that are enough for people. We’re not restricting access to needles because when we restrict access, we know that people share, they re-use, they steal used needles out of locked boxes. They put themselves actually at higher risk for HIV and Hep C in community and so we don’t want to restrict because there’s greater harm in restriction.”

But that model is a constant source of anxiety for community members, who say they are having to pick up needles around their businesses and in community parks.

Constable Trevor Hurley recounts one morning a couple of years back that was particularly memorable. He and his partner came across a young woman one morning downtown who looked to be fine. It was different that afternoon. Clearly high, she was picked up. At the detachment, her bag was searched.