Pubdate: Mon, 02 Oct 2006
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2006 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Andrea Damewood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

NEEDLE EXCHANGE PINPOINTS COMMUNITY NEED

After nearly losing his house and family, it hit Alan: He had to quit 
getting loaded.

Today, Alan - who spoke on condition that his full name not be used 
because of the stigma attached to addiction - has been sober for 
nearly two years, and is back in school on a full-ride scholarship to 
the University of Oregon.

Alan, 39, counted himself among the estimated 10,000 injection drug 
users in Lane County. He also was among the 7,500 who utilize the HIV 
Alliance's Sana Needle Exchange to avoid contracting HIV, Hepatitis C 
and other infections.

After 10 years of sobriety with help from Narcotics Anonymous, Alan 
found himself taking drugs again, especially methamphetamine, in the 
spring of 2004.  advertisement

"I thought I could handle it just once," he said. "But once you start 
using, there's nothing else that matters more than getting loaded."

Soon he was using an eighth of an ounce of meth a day, hiding it from 
his wife and 11-year-old daughter, siphoning off money earmarked for 
the mortgage to pay for his fix.

He would go to the exchange once a week and trade about 30 needles. 
There, he would fill out a questionnaire, which asked, "Do you want 
to get help?"

"It gave me a reminder of what I was doing, the risks I was taking," 
Alan said, adding that he remains HIV and Hepatitis C negative. "The 
needle exchange makes it so users remain healthy ... till they get help."

People who access services such as the needle exchange are two times 
more likely to seek and be successful in detox, said Sharon 
Chamberlain, director of programs and services at the HIV Alliance.

The needle exchange program operates on an annual budget of nearly 
$196,000, which is about what it costs to treat just one person who 
contracts HIV from a dirty needle, Chamberlain said.

Yet, because of the misconception that needle exchanges encourage 
drug use, she said, the program has struggled since its inception in 
1999 to find committed community donors to keep it on the street. The 
United Way has given $31,092 in the past two years.

"That idea is like saying if you got rid of all the glasses in the 
world, there wouldn't be any alcoholics," HIV Alliance Executive 
Director Diane Lang said. "It's common-sense public health."

Forest Headley is on the front line of the needle exchange. An 
AmeriCorps volunteer, Headley runs the exchange four times a week, 
hauling the program's enormous white Chevrolet van to sites in the 
Whiteaker and Glenwood neighborhoods.

Along with the 60,000 needles he exchanges per month, Headley 
provides a pair of nonjudgmental ears, forming relationships

with clients. With every brown paper bag of clean needles, he asks 
clients if they know about HIV testing, and about how to prevent 
Hepatitis C. He sets up a table full of pamphlets on treatment and 
overdose prevention.

The exchange users are about 60 percent male, Headley said. Some fit 
the stereotype of dirty and homeless. Some don't. One is a neatly 
dressed college-age woman. One is a silver-haired man wearing slacks 
and a Hawaiian shirt.

A woman and two men approach the table with a bag full of about 200 
needles. They joke with Headley, and take some cookies, pizza and 
iced tea with their supplies.

"It's very helpful," said a 45-year-old woman who goes by Trey. "I 
never use dirty needles, and I only know one place where you can buy 
them. And this way, people don't toss them (on the street), which 
makes it dangerous for everyone."

Trey, like many needle exchange clients, was exchanging for friends 
as well. She distributes clean needles to about three other people, 
she said, and stipulates that they give her the dirty ones before 
they can have more.

As for Alan, who hopes to earn a degree in nursing, that's exactly 
what he needed. He said he is fortunate that he was able to stay 
healthy so he can have a bright future.

"Life just keeps getting better," he said. "Although it still has its 
potholes, because I'm working a program of recovery, I can handle that today."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman