'We Refuse To Wait Any Longer' Guerilla Needle Exchange

TheTyee.ca

6/4/2009

It's been a year since Victoria's needle exchange closed. Activists going by the name Harm Reduction Victoria marked the day by marching through downtown then setting up their own guerrilla exchange.

"The Guerrilla Needle Exchange will be open every evening for an indefinite period of time, collecting and distributing safer drug use supplies in our community from a fixed site," said a statement from the group. "Since Victoria's only fixed-site needle exchange was closed... thousands of the most marginalized and stigmatized members of our community have been denied access to an essential health service."

Without access to clean needles, it said, people's lives are at risk. "Harm Reduction Victoria refuses to stand silently watching a public health crisis escalate," it said. "We refuse to wait any longer for our public health officials, municipal government delegates and the provincial government to take action."

Besides a fixed exchange, the group wants a safe consumption site for Victoria, which would be a first for the city. They also want the people operating mobile exchanges to be allowed to distribute needles in a large section of downtown they agreed last year to stay away from.

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http://thetyee.ca/Photo/2009/06/04/WeRefuseToWait/

I think that guerilla harm reduction programs are often the best way to shock the medical community and legislators to step up and do something constructive.

After the guerilla Safe Injection/Consumption Room made international headlines from Vancouver, Canada, the idea became a rallying point for treatment providers across Europe and North America. Now safe injecting rooms/safe consumption rooms are popping up all over the place.

After the guerilla Narcan campaign by several unaffiliated volunteers, driving around known Heroin markets and shooting galleries to hand out ampoules of Narcan with instruction pamphlets on how to use them, many countries have started pilot programs of prescribing Narcan ampoules to addicts; sometimes at Needle exchanges. In the US, there is even pilot programs going on (and more on the way) involving a nasal spray with Naloxone- thus making it even easier for someone to give life saving treatment to someone who has overdosed (without having to go through the trouble of preparing and administering an injection).

After guerilla Sharps Container campaigns, individual people placing Sharps Containers (puncture resistant plastic containers meant to hold used needles to then be disposed) in public bathrooms, many countries now put Sharps Containers in public restrooms, in prisons, etc so people who use have a safe place to dispose of used needles/syringes instead of throwing them in the trashcans or floors of public places where someone could puncture themselves with them.

These programs force change by spreading harm reduction philosophy by word of mouth and the local, national and international media. This is how we get things done for the good of other users and addicts; by doing some good on our own for other users and addicts.

Awesome! Great job Harm Reduction Victoria, glad to see others staying positive.

Kudos to these people

I think a better idea would be working on overturning any existing laws against possession or sale of syringes in pharmacies, to me this is the major stumbling block. Syringe prices are really negligible in the overall scheme, but if some charity wants to give them away thats great.

garuda said:

I think a better idea would be working on overturning any existing laws against possession or sale of syringes in pharmacies, to me this is the major stumbling block. Syringe prices are really negligible in the overall scheme, but if some charity wants to give them away thats great.

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While the price is negligable, those at highest risk for sharing needles are the poorest addicts, who are often homeless. They cannot afford even the modest cost of fresh needles.

Plus, where access is blocked by such legislation, every addict is at risk, and such programs are necessary to provide clean injecting equipment.

But these programs offer more than just clean needles/syringes, they also give out information on local social services, condoms, clean water, etc. For many of the poorest addicts, the local needle exchange is their only access to treatment.

good deal victioria