Crack Pipe Program In Ottawa In Danger: Come out to protest or publicize the need for the program

I've mentioned the crack pipe program in Ottawa previously. It is now coming up for review in Ottawa during in the city budget. If you live If you live in Ottawa you should consider coming to a protest being organized by the AIDS committee of Ottawa to make it clear the program is continued. Not in Otttawa. Can't make it to the protest? Spread the word about what the program is, and why it should be continued. Nobody's health should be considered more important than anyone else's.

Piping up for crack program

Fearing budget cuts, harm-reduction advocates organize rally
By NELLY ELAYOUBI, SUN MEDIA
Sat Feb 17, 2007

Advocates of Ottawa's crack pipe program plan to make their voices
heard next week when councillors sit down to consider the 2007 budget.

Concern has been growing among advocates of the harm-reduction program, who fear premature cuts will be made to the crack pipe initiative during the budget process -- which will see dozens of delegations plead their cases for funding beginning Monday...

During his election campaign, Mayor Larry O'Brien promised to eliminate the program.

O'Brien wasn't available for comment yesterday, but his spokesman, Mike Patton, said the mayor would be "looking for bigger fish" when it comes to budget savings.

"A Health Issues"

...a rally has been organized by the AIDS Committee of Ottawa (ACO) at City Hall on Monday.

"Larry O'Brien, I imagine, sees this as a legality issue, when, in actual fact, it should be treated as a health issue," said ACO's Nicholas Little.

"Addiction is a question of health, not of criminality."...[emphasis mine]

Infectious disease rates in men and women injection drug users in Ottawa are among the highest in the country -- 21% for HIV and 76% hepatitis C...

...The report summary shows that 37% of people said they shared crack equipment all the time before the program was introduced. By the end of one year, that figure had dropped to 13%.[emphasis mine]

"That reduces the likelihood that diseases like hepatitis C are being transmitted," said Ottawa's Inner City Health Project executive director, Wendy Muckle...

Let's be clear. You don't need to be a crack user, a drug user or a person with AIDS to be concerned about the continuation of this program. This program helps decrease the spread of disease among people who are already drug users. It hasn't been shown to increase drug use.

The city of Ottawa police have made it clear they detest the crack pipe program. Ottawa police stepping on city's crack pipe program: medical chief This makes it doubly important that support for the program be shown.

Increasingly we are seeing material about how to reduce our chance of getting a illness (such as Diabetees type 2)...and often these are programs that we as taxpayers help fund. It's called preventitive medicine. It's a lot cheaper, and improves the health of citizens to do our best to keep people from getting sick, instead of treating them after. It's called disease prention. And this program is not expensive by. It costs The city's public health department has a $40-million...The crack pipe initiative costs the city $8,000 a year. Why should we not have the same type of programs for drug users? Because they are drug users seems to be the answer...a rather useless tautology, which cares nothing about a person's health, but is judgemental, thinking some people deserve to have access to preventative health measures while others don't.P