Pubdate: Thu, 15 Sep 2005
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Laura Crimaldi, Common Disgrace
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

JUNKIE NABBED BY COPS AFTER NEEDLE PICKUP

Cops brooming druggies from the city's central parks busted a heroin addict 
yesterday minutes after she picked up a clean needle from a Boston Public 
Health van.

The arrest exposed dueling government missions in dealing with Boston's 
heroin scourge: curbing the spread of AIDS among addicts while keeping the 
abusers from doing narcotics in public places.

"We've worked very hard over the last decade to make sure we have good 
communications with police to minimize the likelihood that would be a 
problem," said John Auerbach, executive director of the Public Health 
Commission.

"Over that entire period, I can't remember a single instance where someone 
was getting monitored or getting arrested just as they were getting out of 
the van," he said. "I think this is a coincidence."

At 11:02 a.m., Joanna Leahy, 31, walked up to an unmarked city van downtown 
on LaGrange Street and picked up a brown paper bag from the city-run AHOPE 
Needle Exchange Program. Minutes later, she and another man, identified by 
cops as Rafeal Rodriguez, were handcuffed by MBTA police at Boylston and 
Tamworth streets for heroin possession. "I just relapsed today," a reporter 
heard Leahy tell officers as she sat cuffed on the sidewalk.

The silver van, operated by the Public Health Commission, makes 22 stops a 
week throughout the city for addicts to exchange needles, obtain condoms 
and alcohol wipes, and access detox services, medical care and HIV tests. 
There are 2,000 people enrolled in the needle program, which issues 
membership cards to participants so they are protected from arrest simply 
for possession of a hypodermic needle, said Auerbach.

On Monday, the Herald exposed brazen drug abuse in the Common and Public 
Garden, prompting authorities to unleash undercover patrols and an 
increased mounted police presence. The heightened enforcement pushed 
druggies into surrounding locales such as Boylston Street, where three men 
were spotted yesterday making a drug deal in an alley shortly before 
Leahy's arrest.

Throughout the day, a dozen people were seen approaching the 
needle-exchange van, including one man who broke into a sprint after 
picking up his brown paper bag on Shawmut Avenue in Dudley Square.

Auerbach said the program contributed to Boston's posting a lower HIV 
infection rate among intravenous drug users in 2004, compared with other 
parts of the state.

"You don't help anyone by keeping them addicted," said Lea Pallaria Cox, 
president of Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention Inc. "It's a magnet for 
everything bad."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman