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 * __ Harm Reduction Kits __**

__ ﻿Harm Reduction Kits Contains the following contents: __

***One straight shooter - glass stem with a mouth piece ** Strait shooters are used to smoke drugs. The stem is the pipe part used to smoke the drugs, and the mouth piece to protect from cuts or burns if the pipe gets broken or too hot. Metal screens used to keep drugs from entering the wrong part of the pipe. Clean screens are not available addicts might use the unsanitary screens from bathroom faucets or brillo pads which break apart and can get lodged in the user's throat. Once lit brillo continues to self ignite which can cause burns and infections if it does get stuck in the users throat.
 * *Metal screens **

 These are given more often in the crack kits to protect a users lips because crack users sometimes burn or cut their lips on their pipes.
 * *Matches **
 * *Chapstick/Vaseline (lip balm) **


 * *Condoms, Lube & Hand wipes **


 * *Alcohol wipes **

(Author: Canadian Harm Reduction Association.Ttile of Work: Text of Handouts in Crack Kits. Retrieved: October 24, 2010. [])

Cookers are used to heat drugs into an inject able mixture. Cookers heat more evenly and are more sanitary than spoons, which are often used when cookers aren't available.
 * *Cookers **

Sterile water is used to mix ascorbic acid or vitamin c with heroin to break it down into an inject able form. Having one use sterile water viles or larger personal use sterile water viles is very important because HIV and Hep C can still be transmitted through sharing water. When sterile water isn't available people may use bottled water which is filtered but still contains chemicals. In moments of real desperation users have been known to use puddles or toilet water which is filled with bacteria and may cause infections in the user.
 * *Sterile Water **


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Clean Needles **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">This is accomplished by giving out individual sharps containers or having a larger sharps container at a fixed location or both.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Collection of Used Needles **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Chopsticks are used to push screens into pipes and well as pushing cotton balls or alcohol swabs through a used pipe or needle to clean it and limit the potential of spreading disease.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Chopsticks **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Cotton balls can be used in the clean up process but they are mainly used as filters. After being cooked a drug mixture is drawn into a syringe through a filter to keep out any leftover solid residue. The cotton balls found in harm reductions kits are one continually woven piece of cotton. Unlike regular cotton balls these do not produce small particles that can be drawn into the needle and subsequestly injected. The same can happen with fibreglass particles found in cigarette filters which are sometimes used when alternatives can't be found. The filters from cigarettes that have already been smoked cause even greater health risks because all of the chemicals in cigarettes get mixed in with the drug mixture and injected as well as potentially injecting fibreglass particles.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Cotton Balls **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is mixed with a drug and sterile water to help break down the drug into an inject able form. Heroin cannot be broken down into it's injectable form without one of these. When these aren't provided, users turn to readily available household items such as lemon juice which can cause bacterial infections.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Ascorbic Acid **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Tourniquets are used to tie off the arm when a user has decided which vein to inject into. Belts are sometimes used which can easily become stuck and if left on after injecting cut off circulation.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Tourniquet **


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Instructions of Use **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">This information was collected in face to face interviews with harm reduction workers from Pinewood Centre and the AIDS committee of Durham. For complete interviews see page three, Perspectives on Harm Reduction. =<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Other ways of Harm Reduction =

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Healthy Life Style information

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Referrals to services; Physicians, Drug Rehabilitation


 * John Howard Society of Durham Region