Free crack pipe service discontinued in Calgary
Some groups, including the Calgary Police Association, had recently expressed their concerns with the Safeworks program
The Calgary Herald (Canada)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
A decision to stop a clean crack-pipe distribution program has disappointed those working to rehabilitate street addicts. Since 2008, Alberta Health Services had been giving out crack-pipe kits as part of the Safeworks program, an effort to reduce transmittable diseases. The kits contained a glass pipe, mouthpiece and cleaning tool and were handed out in an AHS van. More than 14,500 crack pipes were given out as of June 2011. The program was an effective first step in engaging hardcore, street-involved crack cocaine addicts. However, AHS has discontinued the Safeworks crack pipe program, citing the “potential for a legal challenge with respect to distribution.”
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