SEATTLE - It's noon and Shilo Murphy is busy preparing "crack kits" to give out to addicts in the University District.
The kit includes clean crack pipes, ascorbic acid for injecting crack, and a drug that reverses heroin overdose.
Murphy says providing these kits are instrumental in preventing disease.
"Crack users will tell you the reason they smoke crack is there's no diseases they can get, and that's not true," says Murphy.
For the last 20 years, the People's Harm Reductions Alliance has been giving away clean needles to drug addicts. They've added crack pipes to the list. Murphy says disease prevention is a better method than pushing drug resistance.
"Drug addicts have heard all the time that drugs are bad, quit drugs. They will quit when they are ready to quit. This saves lives," he said.
There's mixed reactions to this effort. Does the push to prevent disease outweigh the need to stop drug use?
"It's really not prevention," says Brucab Sisay of the University District. "It's more of a let's deal with the situation. It's pragmatic, I think it's a good idea."
The effort is privately funded, no laws are being broken, but even one of Shiloh's regulars was taken aback by it all.
"Most needle exchanges in downtown Seattle, none of 'em give out crack pipes, but, hey, it helps me."
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