The Saskatchewan Health Authority will soon be providing safe inhalation kits in northern communities.
The Saskatchewan government funds 26 fixed and three mobile harm reduction programs which will start receiving inhalation supplies within the next few months.
The safe inhalation kits will be available through harm reduction programs in such northern communities as La Ronge, La Loche, Buffalo Narrows, Ile a la Crosse, Green Lake and Beauval.
“There are a number of sites in the North,” SHA Medical Health Officer Dr. Ashok Chhetri says. “Those sites will be available to supply safer inhalation kits.”
“The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations supports an expanded approach to harm reduction,” Second Vice-Chief David Pratt says. “By reaching out with better options for people facing addictions issues, we can better spread the message that there are opportunities in the health care system for treatment and eventual recovery.”
The expanded approach will include community-based organizations (CBOs) offering an alternative to injecting drugs.
“Seven provinces across Canada have incorporated safer inhalation supplies into their harm reduction programming,” Chhetri explains. “There is evidence from those jurisdictions that suggest that these supplies reduce the risk of contracting HIV and Hepatitis C.”
Open sores, blisters, cuts and burns from makeshift pipes can lead to the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C.
“Making safer inhalation supplies available through Saskatchewan’s harm reduction sites and eventually CBO’s is an important step in addressing the harms associated with crystal meth use and other drugs,” Jason Mercredi, Executive Director of AIDS Saskatoon, says in a released statement. “We are excited that community-based organizations will play a role in this important collective effort to meaningfully address addictions issues across Saskatchewan.”
The provincial government invests over $46 million on addictions services per year.
(PHOTO: Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter gets an HIV test. File photo.)