The Vancouver Coastal Health authority has been testing the health benefits of giving crack cocaine users smoking kits. Between December 2011 and November 2012, 65,000 such kits were freely distributed in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, to 4,213 crack smokers, at a cost of $118,000 CDN, according to a several reports, including this Vancouver Courier item. Now they're crunching the numbers and looking at the results.
Vancouver Coastal Health is telling the media that the 13 month program met it's harm reduction goals, reducing both burns to crack smokers, and reliance on used smoking equipment -- without increasing drug activity.
Knee-jerk conservatives may blanch at what they see as another example of lefties enabling the druggie lifestyle, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. "Harm reduction" means reducing the harm drug users do to themselves, and -- this is an important point -- reducing the harm drug users do to the society at large. Reducing the sharing of drug-taking equipment, is meant to have far-reaching social benefits:
Of the total $118,000 CDN cost of the project, over half the money, $68,000, went towards buying the supplies, and assembling the 65,299 sterile kits, each consisting of glass stems, pipe screens, mouthpieces, and alcohol swabs.
An additional $35,000 covered "peer support and education." Vancouver Coastal Health says harm reduction providers were able to engage with the clients receiving the free smoking kits, and provide education, and refer clients to health, and addiction services. Education included safe smoking practices to avoid cuts, burns, and the sharing of pipes. The program recorded over 700 referrals to health services, and 1,280 to addiction services.
A street acquaintance was showing off a little tiny glass vial on the end of a chain they were wearing around their neck. I thought they were making a joke. What could they possibly use such a tiny thing for? Carrying their drugs, they said. I expressed disbelief. We were having this conversation just off to the South-West of Granville, and Broadway on the park-like doorstep of the Vancouver School Board. My acquaintance told me they'd happened by on their way to pick up a drug delivery -- In Fairview, there's free delivery by car for both pizzas, and drugs -- They bade me wait; they'd show me. When they returned, they explained that the "handful" of crack cocaine (pictured above) cost $20.00 CDN. For them, it represented 4 hits. For another person I knew, they said it would only be enough for two hits, and another person we both knew would smoke it all in one go. They also told me something I didn't know; in a pinch for a way to carry it, they can just put the crystallized cocaine in their mouth. Finally I know why crack is the most popular street drug in Vancouver -- it's completely waterproof! Click the image to enlarge it.
Vancouver Coastal Health is telling the media that the 13 month program met it's harm reduction goals, reducing both burns to crack smokers, and reliance on used smoking equipment -- without increasing drug activity.
Knee-jerk conservatives may blanch at what they see as another example of lefties enabling the druggie lifestyle, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. "Harm reduction" means reducing the harm drug users do to themselves, and -- this is an important point -- reducing the harm drug users do to the society at large. Reducing the sharing of drug-taking equipment, is meant to have far-reaching social benefits:
- Reducing the transmission of infectious diseases among drug users.
- Reducing the number of drug addicts who become chronic health care cases,
- Reducing the risk of drug users spreading infectious diseases to the general population.
Of the total $118,000 CDN cost of the project, over half the money, $68,000, went towards buying the supplies, and assembling the 65,299 sterile kits, each consisting of glass stems, pipe screens, mouthpieces, and alcohol swabs.
An additional $35,000 covered "peer support and education." Vancouver Coastal Health says harm reduction providers were able to engage with the clients receiving the free smoking kits, and provide education, and refer clients to health, and addiction services. Education included safe smoking practices to avoid cuts, burns, and the sharing of pipes. The program recorded over 700 referrals to health services, and 1,280 to addiction services.
What $20 buys a crack addict these days in Fairview
A street acquaintance was showing off a little tiny glass vial on the end of a chain they were wearing around their neck. I thought they were making a joke. What could they possibly use such a tiny thing for? Carrying their drugs, they said. I expressed disbelief. We were having this conversation just off to the South-West of Granville, and Broadway on the park-like doorstep of the Vancouver School Board. My acquaintance told me they'd happened by on their way to pick up a drug delivery -- In Fairview, there's free delivery by car for both pizzas, and drugs -- They bade me wait; they'd show me. When they returned, they explained that the "handful" of crack cocaine (pictured above) cost $20.00 CDN. For them, it represented 4 hits. For another person I knew, they said it would only be enough for two hits, and another person we both knew would smoke it all in one go. They also told me something I didn't know; in a pinch for a way to carry it, they can just put the crystallized cocaine in their mouth. Finally I know why crack is the most popular street drug in Vancouver -- it's completely waterproof! Click the image to enlarge it.
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