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un agency lashes canada over crack pipe programs

April 2008 - © CBC News - The United Nations has denounced programs in three Canadian cities that provide safe crack pipes to drug addicts with the aim of curbing disease.

The crack pipe programs in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto violate a worldwide anti-drug convention signed by Canada in 1988, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board says in its annual report, released Wednesday.

"The board calls upon the government of Canada to end programs such as the supply of 'safer crack kits,' including the mouthpiece and screen components of pipes for smoking crack," the control board's report says. Government-funded safe-injection sites, too, violate the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, the board says.

Ottawa cut its municipal funding for the city's crack-pipe program in July — with critics like Mayor Larry O'Brien and police Chief Vern White saying the money could be better spent on addiction treatment — but the Ontario government stepped in in December to fund the community groups that distribute pipe parts to drug users.

The Ontario Health Ministry said the UN drug agency's report contradicts the findings of another UN organization. "The evidence shows — and this is evidence that's supported by the World Health Organization — … that you really can prevent the spread of infectious diseases through safe inhalation or safe injection sites," said Laurel Ostfield, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman.

The Ottawa community centre that runs the city's safe-pipe program said the UN drug agency doesn't understand the purpose of the initiative. "This is a health issue. It's about stopping the spread of HIV and hep C," Jack McCarthy, director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre, said. "That's why the province funded our centre."