Victoria to Distribute "Crack Kits" to Users

According to a July 13, 2009 article in the Nanaimo News Bulletin ("Victoria Accepts 'Crack Kit' Distribution"), Victoria "is impatient to get [...] crack kits flowing" to addicts despite opposition from surrounding cities. The kits, which are also distributed - though differently - in Prince George and Toronto, "include a mouth piece and a push stick," which advocates say could help reduce "the transmission of communicable disease[s]" like Hepatitis C; as the Bulletin states, "research has shown that crack pipes can carry hepatitis C-positive blood." The kits will be distributed "through the same agencies distributing needles for drug injection" and can be provided at a negligible cost to taxpayers. Moreover, the Bulletin notes, "unlike needles," crack kits "could be reused by drug addicts several times." Victoria should be applauded for approving this laudable idea that not only assists crack users in ingesting the drug more safely but also expands upon the success of harm reduction measures more typically associated with heroin users.