It's after midnight in an alleyway near Main and Hastings, Vancouver's and possibly Canada's most notorious intersection for drug deals, missing women and prostitution. This is where Holly Boyd has worked for the past year as a volunteer for the Washington needle exchange, and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), picking up used needles left behind by intravenous drug users.
Ms. Boyd explains that her volunteering "helps keep the needles off the ground because there are kids who come downtown and there are kids in the area, so I like to make it safe for the children."
The biggest danger for Ms. Boyd is not the people around her but what lies on the ground under the soles of her shoes, used needles. "If you accidentally get pricked by a needle that hasn't got a lid then you're in trouble" she says, "because some of the people who use drugs have a disease."
IN HER OWN WORDS VISIT WWW.GLOBEANDMAIL.COM/LIFE TO HEAR AN AUDIO CLIP OF THE INTERVIEW