Pubdate: Wed, 05 Apr 2006
Source: Durham Independent (NC)
Copyright: 2006, Durham Independent
Contact:  http://indyweek.com/durham/current/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2329
Author: Charles Duncan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

RALEIGH RALLY TO SUPPORT NEEDLE-EXCHANGE PROPOSAL

Needle exchange programs are efforts that provide intravenous drug
users with sterile needles to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and
hepatitis C. But they're illegal in North Carolina.

A bill in front of the state House wants to make needle exchanges
legal and fund three pilot programs at a cost of $550,000.

The bill, HB411 with the short title "Funds for Clean Syringe
Program," did not make it out of committee last year, but N.C. AIDS
March organizers hope it has a chance in the short session this year
if it can make it into the governor's budget. The needle exchange
proposal has been around the General Assembly in one form or another
since 1997.

The bill does three things: creates three community-based, pilot
needle exchange programs; makes participants, volunteers and employees
of needle exchanges immune from prosecution for carrying syringes; and
funds the programs and a study of the program's effects.

In order to qualify for one of the potential pilot programs, a
county's board of commissioners, the local board of health, health
director and director of mental health or substance abuse services all
have to sign a letter of support to the state health director. So far,
Guilford is the only county to have the needed support for a pilot
needle exchange. There are currently needle exchanges operating in
Guilford and Buncombe counties under tacit agreement with local law
enforcement. Thelma Wright, with the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition,
ran a needle exchange from 1999 to 2004 in Guilford County before
handing the program off to another. Wright now works as a community
activist focusing on intravenous drug users and is helping organize a
march in downtown Raleigh on Friday to support the bill. She says the
message she hopes to get across is that needle exchange programs are
"not about allowing people to use drugs, but helping people stay
healthy until they can stop."

Needle exchanges don't just help keep drug users from contracting HIV,
but also protect law enforcement, she says. If an addict is stopped by
police with a dirty needle, he or she probably won't tell the officer
about it because possessing the needle is a misdemeanor. The officer
could end up getting stuck by the needle and possibly infected with
HIV or hepatitis. If the legislature legalized needle exchanges,
addicts enrolled in the program would be immune from the drug
paraphernalia charge and would be more likely to tell police about the
needle, Wright says.

Marce Abare, a staff member with Global Justice and one of the march
organizers, says she hopes the marchers can "directly address Gov.
Easley and shed light on the issue."

Easley's office directed questions to the Department of Health and
Human Services. Evelyn Foust, the state AIDS director with DHHS, fully
supports needle exchange programs. "There is strong evidence
nationally that [needle exchange] programs reduce the spread of HIV
and in no way increase drug use," Foust says.

"In order to treating addiction, you have to meet people where they
are," she says, explaining that the needle exchanges are a good way to
get addicts into the healthcare system to help them with all medical
problems, especially addiction.

While the legislature debates this politically unpopular issue, Foust
says, "People are getting infected; we don't have any time to lose."
Foust said DHHS's current estimate is that there are almost 29,000
people living with HIV or AIDS in North Carolina, with over 1,700 new
cases reported every year for the past four years.

Foust says critics who say "somehow, we're encouraging drug use" are
being "shortsighted."

"From the public health perspective, we've got to do whatever we can,"
Foust says. "It's time. North Carolina can do this."

Students and community activists are planning the N.C. AIDS March in
support of legislation supporting needle exchanges on Friday, April 7,
in downtown Raleigh starting at 11 a.m. at the Bicentennial Mall on
Jones Street and making its way to the legislative building, where
politicians and HIV-positive youth plan to speak.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin