|
Newsbrief:
Group
Hands
Out
Free
Crack
Pipes
in
Vancouver
Harm
Reduction
Action
11/5/04
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/361/vandu.shtml
A group representing Vancouver's
hard drug users has opened a new front in the effort to reduce drug-related
harms. VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (http://www.vandu.org)
began distributing hundreds of free crack pipes to smokers in the city's
Downtown Eastside over the weekend in a move the group said would slow
the spread of disease among rock aficionados.
The group handed out over
500 "crack kits" Friday night alone, VANDU president Rob Morgan told the
Vancouver Sun. Each kit contains a glass pipe, mouth pieces, condoms, alcohol
swabs, matches, and an instruction pamphlet. The action is a project of
VANDU's crack-smoking affiliate, the Rock Users' Group. "In the same way
as handing out needles, these kits advance harm reduction and prevent the
spread of HIV and hepatitis C," said Morgan, who told the Sun he is himself
strung out on crack. Morgan said money for the kits came from private organizations
and street donations, but the group will ask the Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority for additional funding.
But while the Authority supports
needle exchange programs and the Downtown Eastside safe injection site,
it has so far refused to either support the crack kits or allow the creation
of a safe smoking area for crack users. The kits are not proven effective
in harm reduction, the Authority maintained, and there is no legal provision
for establishing a safe smoking room.
-- END --
|
Issue #361, 11/5/04
Editorial:
Ironic Hypocrisy |
Big Win in
Big Sky Country: Montana Approves Medical Marijuana |
Alaska Marijuana
Initiative Defeated |
Oregon Measure
to Expand Medical Marijuana Access Defeated |
More Than a
Thousand Drug Offenders Continue Doing Life Sentences Following Defeat
of California Three-Strikes Reform Initiative |
Local
Marijuana Initiatives and Questions Win in Ann Arbor, Columbia, Oakland
and Massachusetts |
Newsbrief:
Victory for Rockefeller Law Foe in Albany DA Race |
Newsbrief:
Another Tulia in East Texas? |
Newsbrief:
South Carolina Jury Refuses to Send Opium Smoker to Prison for Decades,
Acquits Him of Trafficking Instead |
Newsbrief:
Dr. Hurwitz Trial Underway, Key Pain Doctor Prosecution |
Newsbrief:
Group Hands Out Free Crack Pipes in Vancouver Harm Reduction Action |
Newsbrief:
This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories |
This Week
in History |
The DARE Generation
Returns to DC: Students for Sensible Drug Policy 2004 National Conference
Next Month |
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Now to Intern at DRCNet! |
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