A NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN IS NOW MAKING THE ROUNDS AMONG ADDICTS IN THE AREA

It may seem like a big-city problem of little concern to
suburbanites.

But drug addiction in the Tri-Cities -- particularly intravenous
drug-use -- has hit a level where the Fraser Health Authority has
called in a mobile needle-exchange van now touring Port Moody, Port
Coquitlam and Coquitlam.

Staffed and operated by the Purpose Society of New Westminster, the
health van began making visits to the Tri-Cities in June and has
already built a clientele within each of the cities.

Drug users and those in need of health or hygienic supplies such as
condoms, bandages and alcohol swabs can call the van's mobile phone or
visit wherever they see it parked in the Tri-Cities to pick up clean
needles, crack-pipe mouthpieces and sterilized water to help prevent
the spread of blood-born diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, common
among drug users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Health van volunteer Greg Kostrzewa said the number of client visits
has been increasing with each run into the Tri-Cities since beginning
last month, with staff still trying to determine the best locations to
find those in need in Coquitlam and Port Moody.

So far this month, van volunteers Kostrzewa and his partner Elvis
Scott had served 31 clients in Port Coquitlam as of Wednesday, up from
18 in the city in June. In Port Moody, the Purpose had van served four
people this month, up from just one in June. The van only began making
stops in Coquitlam this month, so far meeting with five clients.

About 15% of the van's client interactions in the Tri-Cities come from
telephone requests for service, Kostrzewa said, with the rest coming
from walk-up meetings while parked at places such Veterans Park and
the Trinity United Church food bank in PoCo.

In June, the van distributed 325 new needles to intravenous drug users
while taking in 100 used and potentially hazardous needles from those
same people.

As of Wednesday, those numbers for this month had increased to 495
clean needles distributed from the van, with 157 dirty ones taken in
an disposed of.

With all the perceived good the health van is doing in preventing
disease among Tri-City drug users, not everyone in the community
agrees with its purpose.

Rob Thiessen, director of the Hope for Freedom Society, a housing
advocacy group that interacts with and advocates for many of the same
people who use the van, said that there was simply no need for the
service in the Tri-Cities and that harm-reduction services such as
Purpose simply fuel the problem of drug addiction.

"We're an abstinence-based organization and we find it hypocritical
that a society hands out an instrument that allows people to use an
illegal substance," he told The Tri-City News, adding that the
Tri-Cities doesn't seem to have that many intravenous drug users.

But for Purpose Society program co-ordinator Michelle Webb, who
oversees the van's operations, the proof of the van's value is in the
growing numbers of people served.

"People are obviously using IV drugs in the Tri-Cities," Webb said,
"otherwise, we wouldn't be there."

The Purpose Society health van currently visits the Tri-Cities on
Friday and Saturday evenings and anytime by request at 604-562-5170.