Edmonton needle exchange helps keep addicts safe

Neil Young wrote about the needle and the damage done.

But an Edmonton program that provides drug users with sterile needles sees eachas a way to prevent more damage tothe lives of an untold number of addicts.

Streetworks is setting records.

It handed out 237,000 needles in the first two months of this year.

Program manager Marliss Taylor sees that total as a sign the needle exchange is working.

"While it seems like a huge number, it may be a very good indicator, actually, that we're getting to who we need to get to," she said.

"Typically, people who are using drugs for injection like to stay hidden. And it's difficult for them to trust people.

"If we have this many people coming to us, then I'm hoping that what that means is, we have built all kinds of trust in the community and word is spreading."

It certainly seems to be. In November, the program handed out a record 140,000 needles.

That's more than 4,500 each day. The program also provides yellow metal drop boxes, where old needles can be safely returned.

Taylor said it's difficult to know why demand is so high lately. She thinks it could be because drugs such as fentanyl and heroin have become cheaper and more readily available.

Handing out needles makes sense in terms of public health, Taylor said, and saves money in the long run.

"From an economic perspective, this is 12 cents," she said, holding up a syringe in its plastic package. "HIV is about a million dollars a year."

'Sometimes it heals the pain'

Jerry Jacknife has been using the needle exchange for more than two decades. Sometimes, he takes up to 100 at a time.

He's 59 now and knows he shouldn't be doing drugs, and would like to cut down or quit.

But injecting, he said, "makes me feel better, makes me forget things. Sometimes it heals the pain, sometimes it don't."

In any case, he's glad Streetworks is there to help keep him safe.

"If you share needles, you have a risk of you getting a disease that somebody else might have. If you don't share, you can't get it."

Streetworks doesn't just wait for addicts to come to its Boyle Street buildingor its other locations. It has an outreach van on the streets every night.

Erica Schoen is a nurse who works out of the van, trying to make sure people get the help and support they need.

"There's a lot of people who won't access services, because of stigma, so we're trying to find those people," she said.

Streetworks is run by 10 different agencies, including HIV Edmonton, Boyle Street Community Services, the Boyle McCauley Health Centre and Alberta Health Services.

Taylor said the Streetworks program offers a gateway to other services, intended to help people be safer and become healthier.

"Our goal is not simply needle exchange. It is to get to know people, to help them with a wide range of problems, to development a relationship. Because some people have no one else," Taylor said.

"And so we're a link in. And then through us, a number of people will say, 'Hey, I want to get off this, I want to go to detox, I want to go to treatment.'"

For his part, Jacknife said he plans to cut down his drug use. In the meantime, he's grateful there's a place where he isn't judged, and a way he can feed his habit safely.