Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Joseph P. Fried Cited: Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center http://www.leshrc.org/ CitiWide Harm Reduction http://www.citiwidehr.org/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) THE NEEDLE SWAPPERS ARE STILL WARY Call it a case of criminal laws versus health laws. Last November, a judge ruled that New York City police officers could not arrest drug addicts carrying needles with drug residue if the addicts were participating in a state-authorized needle exchange program. The ruling stemmed from a 2000 suit in federal court in Manhattan, which charged that New York City programs were being impeded by police who often arrested participants for possessing syringes with drug residue even though the suspects showed official cards identifying them as participants, and despite a departmental policy against such arrests. Since 1992, the state, acting under its public health law, has authorized needle exchange programs to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. Today, 13 of the officially sanctioned programs are found in New York: nine in New York City, with 32,000 active participants, and one each in Mount Vernon, Buffalo, Rochester and Ithaca, with a total of 7,000 participants, according to the state Health Department. Anna Benyo, a criminal justice advocate with the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, said arrests were "still happening on the street level." "Since the decision, I've spoken to 10 to 15 people who have had some problem with this issue," said Benyo, adding that her group was collecting details of the accusations and hinting at a possible return to court. But Daliah Heller, executive director of CitiWide Harm Reduction, a program in the South Bronx, said that since the ruling - which the city is not appealing - "there haven't been arrests reported to us involving used exchange equipment." Details of putting the ruling into effect are still being negotiated. According to Police Department spokesperson Lt. Brian Burke, police officers are complying with the order. Burke said the department had issued a directive citing the ruling and saying "if they are card-carrying participants, no summary arrests should be made unless they're committing some other offense." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake