Ottawa's needle program is set to continue after a council committee approved a recommendation from the City's interim medical officer of health, which advised the City not to switch to a one-for-one needle exchange.
Dr. Isra Levy says switching to a one-for-one needle exchange policy would potentially cause 21 new HIV infections every year and add $1 million to existing health care costs.
Now, the City of Ottawa says it will spend more money and create new programs to help clean up dirty needles from city streets.
The city says it will spend $100,000 this year to clean-up discarded needles in downtown Ottawa.
