Vending machines with clean pipes, needles for drug addicts coming to Ottawa

Ottawa Public Health is hoping to install vending machines throughout the city that would dispense clean needles and pipes to drug users.

As part of a pilot project the secured machines would be placed outside existing downtown health centres, such as the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

Those facilities would give drug users tokens, which they would use to access the supplies inside the machines. 

Right now, drug users in Ottawa can access clean inhalation and injection supplies at various community health centres, but they're not open around the clock, which is leaving some people at an increased risk for infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, according to Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's deputy medical officer of health.

"There's a major gap. There's a gap overnight and on weekends in terms of people being able to access those supplies," Etches said.

'Complementary service' to existing programs

Ottawa Public Health has heard concerns during initial consultations that the machines might diminish face-to-face interaction between drug users and counsellors, since people wouldn't have to go inside a facility to get clean supplies, Etches said.

"This is a complementary service. It's not meant to replace a connection with people who are using drugs. We always want to see … can we offer them other supports? Can we link them to treatment, potentially?" Etches added.

The dispensing machines may encourage new connections between drug users and support workers, according to Joanna Binch, a nurse practitioner at the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

"We recognize there's a large percentage of people that aren't using our services yet. And this is a first point of contact for them, that maybe by trusting us, and showing that we're supporting new technologies and new ideas, that they will then move into our centre," said Binch.

Ottawa Public Health said it hopes to also include information about preventing overdoses inside the dispensing machines.

For now, there isn't a start date for the pilot project, since the health agency has yet to secure a supplier to build the vending machines.