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Needle-dispensing vending machines could be installed at five locations across central Ottawa, making it the first city in Canada to offer sterile syringes in machines to reduce drug-related virus transmission.

Vera Etches, the deputy medical officer of health, said Ottawa Public Health hasn’t yet decided what material would be available in the vending machines, but needles and crack pipes are definite possibilities.

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The machines would fill a gap in service for drug users who need clean needles when a community program is closed for the day. There are no 24/7 services that provide clean needles.

“This is about making sure people have sterile supplies in the off-hours,” Etches said in an interview Wednesday.

The health unit doesn’t know yet how much the five machines would cost, but Etches said the expense would be covered by the province.

“This is not city dollars going into a new harm reduction service,” she said.