Street Roots • Jan. 15-21, 2016
News
Page 7
PIPES, from page 5
injection, he said his organization considers it a
“promising intervention that we’re interested
in.”
Lauren Gabrielle, 26, has been volunteering
with PPOP since she moved to Portland four
months ago. She’s a former meth smoker.
She said glass pipes are safer than the
common alternatives - broken light bulbs and
aluminum foil - which she often used to smoke
meth.
“I constantly had cuts and burns on my lips,”
she said. “I was putting myself at risk for blood-
borne viruses. I remember I had a bleeding lip
and I was sharing.”
As she spoke, she fashioned paper clips into
handles for “tiny frying pans” used for preparing
drugs for injection. The pans are one of several
sanitary supplies PPOP offers its clients for
safer injection.
Toevs, who oversees Multnomah County’s
syringe exchange program, said that while the
county supports different approaches to harm
reduction, it would not consider offering meth
pipes without evidence it would work better
than the county’s current efforts, which she
thinks have the strongest impact.
PHO TO S BY JOE G LO DE
“The dramatic increase in heroin use of the
This spread sits on a table in the back o f the Annares Infoshop and community center in St. Johns each Saturday.
last few years has stretched the county and our
Volunteers with PPOP, who are mostly former or current drug users, operate a syringe exchange. PPOP offers visitors
partner syringe exchange very thin financially,”
supplies such as safe injection tools, condoms, bandages and toothbrushes.
she said in an email.
She said county syringe exchange clientele
which is under consideration.
dozen people came into the back of the
have not reported using needles because pipes
bookshop to get syringes and other items.
weren’t available.
“Do you need any Narcan or water?”
i i Tknow from my personal experience working
“We know of no evidence that people who
JLwith these programs,” said Raymond, of
volunteer Wren Ronan asked each guest. Narcan
don’t have meth pipes will turn to injecting,”
i« a brand name for overdose-reversing drug
the Harm Reduction Coalition in New York, “the
she said.
j naloxone.
most powerful effect-.of starting a syringe
In Canada, major health care provider
One visitor revealed an open, oozing, bright
exchange program is that it actually becomes
Vancouver Coastal Health launched a pilot
pink abscess on his wrist. Gabrielle pulled out a
the engagement strategy.”
project in 2011 to see if distributing crack pipes
first aid kit and bandaged him up.
He said the same could apply to meth pipes.
“A lot of people have hard time going to the
would be an effective means of harm reduction.
If an organization offers a stigmatized and high-
hospital,”
Pettit said. “The treatment is
An evaluation of the pilot project showed a
risk population something tangible, like a meth
in h u m a n e , and you feel weak and powerless and
significant decrease in respondents who
pipe, it starts a conversation, and that
alone. At least that was my experience.”
reported bums and cuts on their mouths and
conversation can lead to connecting drug users
She said they see about five people each day
hands and an uptick in safer smoking habits,
with services, such as health care and addiction
with serious skin care needs. They aren’t
such as not sharing pipes and using mouth
treatment, he said.
medically trained, so they usually refer people
covers. Out of about 65,000 crack user visits for
On their table in the back of the Anarres
to Bud Clark Clinic, but it’s open only four days
safer smoking kits, which were made by about
Infoshop on North Lombard, PPOP volunteers
a week, and only for a few hours two of those
4,200 crack users, there were at least 1,280
offer an array of pamphlets and fliers containing
days.
referrals to addictions services and more than
information about resources their clients may
“We need someone who can come in and do
9,000 referrals to other social services.
want to access - from skin and dental care to
abscess care,” Junge said. It’s one of many
Vancouver Coastal Health now hands out
information about blood-borne disease. What
additions the volunteers would like to make to
90,000 safer smoking kits, which include a crack
they don’t offer is information about drug
PPOP.
stem, each year from about 25 different
treatm ent
Murphy plans to come down from Seattle for
community health center locations across
“It’s not a recovery-based program,” PPOP
the meth pipe program rollout Friday, when
western Canada, said Sara Young, harm
volunteer Megan Pettit said. “If people are
PPOP will take pipes, along with the syringes,
reduction programs coordinator.
interested in quitting, we point them to Outside
naloxone and hygiene items it regularly delivers
“I continue to hear from service providers
In or the county syringe exchange.”
via bike to drug users along its route.
that if they don’t have pipes available, people
So far, she said, they haven’t had anyone ask
The only hurdle, Junge said, is figuring out
are asking for needles instead,” she said. “That’s
about
treatment.
how to transport the fragile glass pipes without
what we hear around the meth pipes as well,
Pettit said she’s a former meth and heroin
that because we don’t have meth pipes available,
breaking them.
user,
and she remembers it wasn’t easy for her
“We might have to go to the post office and
people ask for injection supplies instead.”
to find clean, new pipes when she was using five buy some padded envelopes,” he said.
She said the apparent need for meth pipe
years ago.
distribution is only anecdotal until her employer
emily@streetroots. org
In the space of about 45 minutes, about a
conducts a pilot project around meth pipes -