More than half Ottawa crack smokers improperly disposing of used pipes
Posted Dec 4, 2011 05:46:20 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, On.- Majority of Ottawa crack smokers are discarding their used glass pipes in the garbage or in the street, parks and sewers.
The Citizen reports that of 655 crack users interviewed by University of Ottawa researchers, 54 per cent said they had recently tossed their crack pipes into the garbage, while another 20 per cent said they had discarded their used pipes in a public place. The interviews were conducted as part of the Ottawa Safe Inhalation Program (SIP).
SIP, run by the Somerset West Community Health Centre, distributed nearly 52,000 free glass crack pipes in Ottawa last year, at the cost of $300,000. The program is provincially funded as part of a harm reduction initiative, meant to limit the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C.
A City of Ottawa bylaw, designed to protect its sanitation workers, prohibits the disposal of needles and crack pipes in the garbage or in recycling bins.
Used crack pipes are supposed to be treated as biohazardous waste: placed in a sealed container and deposited in one of the city’s needle drop boxes, or returned to the agency that distributed them.
In July 2007, the City of Ottawa’s crack pipe distribution program was cancelled in part because of complaints by Sandy Hill residents about discarded pipes on their lawns.
The program was revived five months later by the provincial government.
Though the pipe disposal tendencies are worrying, the U of O report concluded that the safe inhalation program has successfully reduced the amount of pipe-sharing that takes place among the city’s crack users.
Researchers found that the percentage of people who reported sharing a pipe dropped from 64 per cent to 49 per cent during the 11-month study.
Hepatitis C and HIV can be transmitted when pipes are shared since users often have sores, burns or blisters on their mouths. The wounds leave crack smokers open to infection by contaminated blood left on the pipe.
It is estimated that 5,000 people in Ottawa are addicted to crack cocaine.
