Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA) Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press Contact: P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102 Website: http://www.newspress.com/ CLEAN NEEDLES MAKE SENSE Thanks to thoughtful action by the Board of Supervisors, Santa Barbara County will have its first hypodermic syringe exchange program. The board declared a medical emergency, which is a requirement for starting a needle exchange program. The action has been approved at the state level; Gov. Gray Davis last fall signed a law that protects local needle exchange programs from criminal liability. Davis had been reluctant to take such a step because he said providing clean syringes to known drug addicts sends the "wrong signal to our youth." Apparently the reality of the situation caused the governor to change his mind -- and to recognize that more than signals are involved in a workable needle exchange program. Dirty needles are responsible for the transmission of the B and C varieties of hepatitis, and plays a significant role in the movement from person to person of HIV infections. County records show more than 1,300 people have contracted the two forms of hepatitis in the past five years. There are an estimated 2,000 people with HIV in the county, and needle sharing has been identified as a factor in 14 percent of the cases. Health officials have no way of knowing for sure, but they estimate that thousands more county residents are suffering from hepatitis and AIDS -- perhaps as many as 10,000 cases that simply are not reported to the county's Communicable Disease Department. Those officials feel strongly enough about the situation to refer to it as an epidemic. And it's an epidemic a well-run needle exchange program can help defeat. The program will be administered by the Pacific Pride Foundation. Along with providing clean needles in exchange for dirty ones, Pacific Pride officials will counsel and supply educational materials to needle exchange clients on the problems related to drug use and disease. That is a critically important feature of the program. Exchanging dirty needles for clean needles is only part of the service, and only part of the reason why this program may prove so valuable for the community. The other part is having access to and opening a line of communications with people who have self-destructive habits. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D