CLEAN NEEDLE DEMAND SOARS

Demand for clean needles from the Calgary Regional Health Authority's
program to combat infectious diseases is soaring, according the co-ordinator.

Virginia Wheeler says that last year, the program handed out 416,000 clean
syringes to about 11,000 contacts.

The needles were distributed through the program's minivan, which responds
to requests for syringes five evenings a week, and from depots at the
Calgary Urban Projects Society office downtown, the 8th and 8th Health
Centre and the AIDS Calgary office on Centre Street. S.

That total is up 78,000, or 18.75 per cent, from 1997 and is 2 1/2 times
the number in 1995.

Since people who inject themselves with drugs like cocaine, heroin and
morphine shoot up frequently, the number of needles handed out doesn't
match the number of intravenous drug users in the city.

However, Safeworks had more than 2,600 people on its client list last year,
10 of whom tested positive for HIV.

Data gathered by the health authority between May and December showed 57
people with new positive tests for HIV, 27 of whom described themselves as
intravenous drug users.

`The majority (of new HIV cases) were not seen through Safeworks,' Dr.
Richard Musto, deputy public officer of health for the regional authority.

That shows there's still a need for more promotion of the clean needle
program, he said.

Musto and Wheeler attributed the increased demand for needles to two factors.

The growth in Calgary's population undoubtedly means there are more
intravenous drug users in the city now than there were several years ago,
Wheeler said.

But the rise is also due in part to the fact more people are hearing about
Safeworks and using the service, which aims to reduce the harm from
intravenous drug use.

The demand for clean needles is likely a factor in keeping the infection
rate for HIV, which is the cause of AIDS, down.

While only 3.3. per cent of Safeworks clients tested positive for HIV in
1998, the rate in Edmonton was 11 per cent while in Vancouver it hit 25.

Musto cautioned that use of drugs like heroin and morphine may not be as
established here as in the other centres.

While Safeworks' main job is to get clean needles into the hands of drug
users, it also strives to pick up used ones.

Generally, the program succeeds in that task.

In February this year, Safeworks picked up about five used syringes for
every three it handed out.

Used needles are still found in every neighbourhood of the city, a sign of
how widespread intravenous drug use has become.

`Most people say, `It doesn't happen where I live,' said Wheeler, adding
those people are wrong.

`It's everywhere,' she said, noting that her van, which goes wherever
people requesting clean needle are, has been into the best districts in
Calgary.

Some clients in such areas don't want to be seen going to the van to
retrieve a bucket of needles, so they will arrange to meet the nurses at a
parking lot nearby.

But others aren't so shy and will visit the van, which has a simple sign
with the program's name on the doors, right in front of their homes.

Clients are expected to provide assumed names to Wheeler and her collegue -
the van is always double-staffed - so the workers never know the actual
identity of the drug users.

Because discarded needles are found all over the city, there's always a
danger that someone, perhaps a child, could pick one up and stick
themselves with it.

Musto said while such incidents don't occur frequently, so-called needle
stick incidents can come up once or twice a month.

`I haven't had one that involved a child for quite a while,' he said.

The doctor added that the actual risk of infection, HIV or hepatitis C,
from such needles `is extremely low'.