On almost any given night, a dark blue van with an array of logos from local social and health agencies displayed on its side can be seen traveling through what could easily be described as the less-desirable parts of the city.
Stocked with hypodermic needles, crack pipes, condoms and basic first aid supplies, it's manned by a driver and a nurse who dole out the items to drug addicts, prostitutes and street people and treat them for minor cuts, scrapes and abrasions.
Called the Northern Health wellness van, it's been on the road since April 2007 when it was first launched as a one-year pilot program with the help of funding from Health Canada and, interestingly, the M-A-C Cosmetics company, through a fund to combat and contain AIDS.
It has also been a source of controversy.
A phone call is all that's needed to get door-front delivery, which makes the service too convenient in some critics' opinions, particularly since those calls can come from crack shacks. (For safety reasons, staff rarely venture outside the van and never into a home.)
But for those hooked on heroin or crack, it's a last line of defence against contracting a range of communicable diseases - AIDS and hepatitis B and C being the biggest worries - by sharing used needles and crack pipes to get a fix and stave off the withdrawal symptoms.
Just ask Brad and Angie (not their real names), a couple now participating in a methadone program to wean themselves off heroin addiction. They're enthusiastic in their support.
"Now that we've had it, to be honest, I don't think we could ever live with out it," said Brad, a jumpy but affable 38-year-old, during an interview at Northern Health's mental health and addictions services office, also known as the needle exchange, at Third and George downtown.
"I don't have the words to stress the importance of the van and how it's helped tremendously. It should be seven days a week, it shouldn't be (five).
"For pipes and needles, we know a lot of drug addicts including ourselves when we were using, who were using old needles or borrowing them."
Some, notably downtown business owners, may beg to differ, but Brad contends the number of discarded needles and pipes seen around the area has dropped noticeably since the needle exchange opened up and van started operating.
"I've seen people using in the back alleys around here, on the street," said Brad who added there was a time when Prince George's downtown was known as "Little Hastings," because the scene was similar to that found in Vancouver's downtown east side.
The van is also used to provide clients rides to appointments during the day and has, on occasion, been used to relay tips to police by those who'd prefer not to contact the RCMP directly because warrants have been issued for their arrests.
"Even if it's outside the job somewhat, they'll do what they can to help," Brad said.
Angie called the van both a safety blanket and a beacon of hope. As well as providing an outreach service - the van can be the first thing addicts turn to when they decide it's time to clean up and kick their habits - it even delivers a calming effect.
"It reduces a lot of the emotional upsets, like anger outbursts and stuff like that when you have someone who genuinely understands you," she said, adding the free needles and pipes also mean addicts don't have to do as much shoplifting and panhandling to support their habits.
Active Support Against Poverty executive director Audrey Schwartz said many of the social agency's clients make use of the van, which has gained a level of credibility.
"Our clients really trust the people who work with that van and that's huge with people who are homeless and ill," she said. "When the wellness van folks say 'Maybe it's time you really did look at the detox centre as a first step,' they don't get angry and think 'Oh, you just want me to hide away' and that kind of thing. They actually listen to what they're saying."
Joe (also not is real name) is likely to never be one of those people who will turn their life around. He's very upfront about that.
"I'm 50 years old and if I quit doing dope, it's all over for me because I've got nothing else," he said. "I don't have any family and basically that's my family, the drug trade."
So why does he deserve the help the van and the exchange provide?
"Compassion" was Joe's operative word. "It's like man helping man," he said.
Dr. William Osei, Northern Health's medical health officer for the northern interior region, offers a more practical reason. The money addicts get has to come from somewhere and a prime source are "johns," or prostitutes' clients, no small number of whom are married and can contract communicable diseases and then pass them on to their partners once back home.
Osei, who's seen firsthand the effect of AIDS in Africa, never stops stressing how easily that disease can spread when not properly contained.
"It can go viral, literally," he said.
Curtis falls short of giving the van credit for his decision to go into day treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, but he says it definitely kept him much healthier for the day when he took that step.
"If it wasn't for the van or the exchange, I'd probably be living with HIV or I'd probably even be dead today," he said. "They've taught me, when I was using, how to use safe... make sure you use a clean spoon or have a clean filter."
He dismissed the assertion the exchange and the van delay the decision to get help.
"A person is going to use until they decide they're not going to use," he said. "If the needle exchange wasn't here, we'd find other avenues to find our tools to use."
"Tired of being a drunken fool," Curtis is in a day program, which he prefers to the retreat-style programs where you're in a "real safe spot" for six weeks or three months and there are no real temptations.
"And when you get out, those temptations are right back at you," he said. "For me, with this day program, I still have to deal with my temptations every day and I'm learning how to say no in the community.
"I think it's a real good program for me."
