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Jan 03, 08
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crack pipes here! get your free crackpipes!
Free crack mouthpieces on the way
Free crack mouthpieces on the way B.C. government will fund distribution to addicts as early as April Kate Webb, The Province Published: Thursday, January 03, 2008 Crack-pipe mouthpieces are soon to join syringes, alcohol swabs and water vials on the list of free supplies distributed by the B.C. government to drug users. Starting as early as April, the Ministry of Health will set aside funding for pieces of sterile surgical tubing that can be attached to the end of a crack pipe. The two-to-five-centimetre mouthpieces will be available upon request to B.C.'s five health authorities, the goal being to prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as hepatitis C. "People who smoke crack often burn their lips and have sores on their lips, and that sore can have blood in it," said Dr. Perry Kendall, chief medical health officer for B.C. "A well-run [mouthpiece] program offers a lot of promise to reduce blood-borne diseases and to introduce people to health care and addiction treatment services as well." Kendall said crack users also risk contracting potentially fatal diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as syphilis, by sharing pipes. The decision by the Provincial Harm Reduction Committee to fund the program was announced following the Dec. 12 release of a new study, HCV Transmission Among Oral Crack Users, by the Centre for Addictions Research B.C. The study was conducted on 51 inner-city crack-cocaine users in Toronto in 2006, 22 of whom tested positive for the hepatitis C virus antibody. The virus itself was found on a single pipe owned by one of the 22 infected users. "They recovered the viruses from a crack pipe, so it clearly can be a method of transmission," Kendall said, adding the supply of sterile mouthpieces could save B.C. millions in health care. Based on nationwide figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Research, Kendall estimated the bill for British Columbians with hepatitis C falls between $71 million and $143 million each year. In contrast, he estimated each disposable piece of tubing costs fractions of a penny. The Vancouver Island Health Authority confirmed yesterday it will take advantage of the supply of free mouthpieces, and Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Viviana Zanocco said orders are also likely to be placed in the Lower Mainland. "If they're available I can't see a reason why we wouldn't," said Zanocco. "They would likely be distributed through community health centres, places like Insite or addiction services. You can get needles and condoms there, so I'm sure you'll be able to get [mouthpieces] there." Ann Livingston, program co-ordinator for the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, thinks the program could also reduce the number of deaths among Downtown Eastside crack users from pneumonia, which can be spread by sharing pipes. "About 15 of our members probably died last year of pneumonia," she said. "The people who were dying were more likely to be people who smoked crack cocaine." 
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It's not a perfect world by any means. If prevention works better then the current system then doesn't it make sense to use the better of the two?
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