Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jul 2009
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 The Globe and Mail Company
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Website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Robert Matas

LANDMARK NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM CLOSING DOWN

Innovative Program Run By The Downtown Eastside Youth Activities
Society Is Ending After 21 Years Amid Allegations Of Mismanagement And
Financial Improprieties

North America's first needle exchange program, run by the Downtown
Eastside Youth Activities Society, is closing down after 21 years amid
allegations of mismanagement and financial improprieties.

John Turvey, a former drug addict who formed the group in Canada's
most desolate neighbourhood, defied authorities in 1988 with the
radical idea of dispensing clean needles to intravenous drug users
with HIV/AIDS who were dying in rapidly increasing numbers. He
confronted strident opposition from police and politicians who
believed the unconventional service provided mostly by former addicts
would encourage drug use and lead to an increasing number of
contaminated needles abandoned in school grounds and neighbourhood
parks.

The opposition proved groundless. Within years, the radical innovation
was broadly embraced across Canada and the United States as an
effective measure to combat a deadly threat to public health. Mr.
Turvey, who initially paid for the program out of his own pocket, had
anticipated 200 addicts would exchange needles. Within six months,
more than 2,000 people in Vancouver were using the service. Municipal
and then regional health authorities stepped in to pick up the bills.
At its peak in the late 1990s, as many as three million needles a year
were being distributed in Vancouver.

Mr. Turvey died a folk legend in 2006, with an Order of Canada for his
work with young people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. However, his
organization began to lose its place in the community a few years
earlier, after illness forced Mr. Turvey to step back from the group.

Vancouver's needle exchange in recent years has been provided mostly
by other community groups. Around 1.9 million needles were dispensed
in Vancouver last year; DEYAS gave out about 10 per cent of them. The
regional health agency, Vancouver Coastal Health, anticipates the gap
created by the closing of DEYAS could be filled by another community
agency by mid-July.

At the DEYAS office on Tuesday, five remaining staff members were
trying to figure out what would happen to them and to the services
that they believe will not be replaced. Funding for the group abruptly
ended, after a tumultuous period that included a police investigation
into a manager's spending, replacement of a top manager following
erratic behaviour and resignation of board members. Staff continued
the needle exchange program while the organization around them crumbled.

DEYAS exchanged needles with addicts on the street and ran a pick-up
service collecting needles in the Downtown Eastside and elsewhere in
the city. The group also responded to calls to pick up used needles
that came from police and fire departments, the park board and
schools. Staff members anticipated that the closing of DEYAS would end
needle exchanges during hours of high demand, late at night. Also they
said services outside the Downtown Eastside would likely be curtailed.

The relationships built by former addicts helping addicts were as
important as the needles they handed out, they said. Staff member
Robyn Beveland said Mr. Turvey was "a beacon of hope" for addicts.

"You see that van coming down the street, and for that moment all
desperation goes away and you think, here comes my friend," she said.
The needle exchanges often came with education, counselling or just
friendship. "These are the things that they do not measure," she said,
adding that no statistics were available on the lives they may have
saved, and certainly not on the emotional and spiritual relief they
provided.

Toronto-born Manny Cu, co-ordinator of the needle exchange, was
passionate about his job and the place of DEYAS in the community. A
recovered addict, he said he used the services of DEYAS and then
joined as staff in 1995. As an addict, he knew what it was to live on
the street, he said.

"I know what it is like when an addict loses hope. That means they
don't give a damn. you are not even scared of dying, dying is a
relief. What you are afraid of is having to live the way you are
living, like an animal," he said.

Addicts will do whatever they need to do to have their drugs, he
added. "If it means that I'm going to use your syringe even though I
know you are HIV, I will still use it, because I do not worry about
tomorrow . to hell with the consequences, because I am not afraid to
die," Mr. Cu said.

"We do this job because we were affected by the addiction. We do this
because we believe in the program," he said. "John Turvey sold me his
vision. This is a life passion for me."