Vancouverites should be ‘really proud of your humanity,’ says U.S.-based needle exchange director

published on March 29, 2019 by Cherise Seucharan, in The Star Vancouver

VANCOUVER—Vancouver is leading the way in harm reduction and the prevention of overdoses but faces similar gentrification and stigma challenges to most other cities, according to the director of a landmark needle-exchange program in the U.S.

Dr. Hansel Tookes, founder and medical director of the IDEA Exchange in Miami, was in Vancouver to deliver the President’s Dream Colloquium on HIV/AIDS at Simon Fraser University.

Tookes told the Star that Vancouver has led the way on programs and policies that help de-stigmatize drug use and provide wraparound services that meet people where they’re at.

“Everything you all are doing here is on a level that is unparalleled,” he said. “You all should be really proud of your humanity here.”

Led by Tookes, the IDEA Exchange is the only needle exchange in the state of Florida. It also provides harm-reduction services, with the aim of reducing the spread of HIV and other diseases. A mobile health unit goes into areas to deliver supplies, based on where data indicated there could be higher rates of a disease.

He told the Star that the program was able to stem a possible outbreak of HIV when they specifically went into communities that indicated higher risk.

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Vancouverites should be ‘really proud of your humanity,’ says U.S.-based needle exchange director

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