Mobile needle exchange could help downtown
Times Colonist, Thursday, April 12, 2007
Re: "Needle exchange proves a tough sell," April 6.
As the former executive director of Victoria AIDS Resource and Community Service Society (VARCS), I have a radical suggestion. VARCS and the Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users could both offer mobile needle exchanges. These services could replace the fixed-site exchange and, if properly funded and resourced, could offer clinics and connection to other services.
By moving to a mobile model there would be fewer places where large numbers of users would gather, such as Cormorant Street.
This by no means would solve substance misuse, but it would alleviate some of the issues that are seen downtown. More attention still needs to be paid to recovery and detox programs, poverty and mental illness.
Michael Yoder, Victoria.
Needle exchange proves a tough sell
Public opposition stymies search for new site, but city eases zoning issues
Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist, Friday, April 06, 2007
A new location for the controversial Victoria needle exchange still hasn't been nailed down, says the man trying to help AIDS Vancouver Island with finding a new site.
Keyvan Shojania said yesterday that locating a place has been "tougher than I thought," and while he has narrowed down some possible locations, he declined to name them for fear it would generate public opposition.
Members of a group calling itself the Rock Bay Business Coalition have joined together to resist relocation of the needle exchange in that area.
Shojania said the city has told him the only zoning they will consider for a needle exchange is called M2-I. There are about 50 sites in Victoria with that zoning, but after eliminating those close to residential buildings, "It cuts down the list by quite a bit." Most of the M2-I zones are in the Rock Bay area, but a few are closer to downtown, said Shojania.
"No one will actually want it in their area," said Shojania, a lawyer and developer. "The question will be how many people or properties are affected and how much are they affected. The area they are in now in has an enormous effect."
The needle exchange is at the corner of Blanshard and Cormorant streets. Over the years, an increase in the number of clients, along with drug addicts shifting to crystal meth from heroin, has fuelled friction between the social agency and its commercial and residential neighbours.
Shojania said the discarded needles left in the area is just one issue: "The place is a magnet for a particularly anti-social type of person." If the needle exchange reduces costly diseases as Vancouver Island Health Authority says it does, then VIHA should be able to provide better funding to the program to minimize impact on neighbours, Shojania said.
Yesterday, city council agreed to call a public hearing on rezoning more properties in the Rock Bay area properties to M2-I. Alison Meyer, city planner, said the changes are to eliminate heavy industrial uses that are no longer appropriate in the neighbourhood. Under the existing zoning, property owners could have blast furnaces, fish packing, and storage of damaged vehicles on site. Those uses won't be allowed under the M2-I zone. Meyer said it did not limit uses such as a needle exchange or safe-injection site.
Coun. Pam Madoff said she's concerned that if the zoning is in place it will preclude council from having a say in where the needle exchange is relocated.
Mayor Alan Lowe said, "Sometimes that is to our benefit." He added the needle exchange "isn't going to take any site." He later said he was unaware of new locations under consideration.
Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said city staff is working to develop a "good-neighbour policy" with the needle exchange that would transfer to any new location. The properties under consideration for M2-I zoning include: 630 Queens Ave., 601-623 Government St., 1950 Government, 530 Chatham St., 1907 Store St., and two-thirds of the block bounded by Discovery, Pembroke and Government streets, and east of Sports Traders at 508 Discovery St.
Hopper said he is unclear why the city is initiating the zoning, as the neighborhood is in the process of developing a new official community plan. He'd like the area to develop into a design district.
"What are they telling us about the evolution for Rock Bay with these rezoning changes?" Hopper asked.
The staff report said the rezoning would place the properties in "a workable interim holding zone" until the ultimate direction for Rock Bay can be decided.