Pubdate: Sun, 18 Mar 2007 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2007 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: Jack Moran Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) MANY NEEDLES COME FROM HIV ALLIANCE EXCHANGE Without a doubt, a good percentage of needles picked up by HIV Alliance volunteer cleanup patrols were originally provided to drug users through the agency's needle exchange program. The Eugene-based organization distributed 540,000 needles to injection drug users last year, program coordinator Forest Headley said. Drug users gave back about 98 percent of those needles - approximately 530,000 - as part of the ongoing exchange. That's an impressive return rate, but it means that 10,000 used needles furnished by the HIV Alliance never found their way back to the agency. advertisement Headley, who participates in cleanup patrols, estimates that as many as half of the dirty needles found by volunteer crews throughout the Eugene-Springfield area could have been doled out by the HIV Alliance. "About half of them are the same brand," he said. "Some of them obviously are from us. But we find all different sizes and brands that people buy." Drug users who don't obtain needles through free exchange programs can purchase them at a handful of local pharmacies, which in Oregon can legally sell to anyone older than 18. Per-needle costs vary from as little as about 50 cents to as much as $2, Headley said. Many of Lane County's estimated 10,000 intravenous-drug addicts need to shoot methamphetamine or heroin several times a day to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Headley estimates that about two-thirds of drug users who utilize his agency's exchange program abuse methamphetamine. Needle exchange programs are common nationwide and in other developed countries. Their main goal is to prevent drug users from sharing needles. Shared needles play a major role in spreading HIV and other blood-borne diseases. Contracting an infection from a dirty needle "is something that's 100 percent preventable," Headley said. During needle exchanges, Headley and other HIV Alliance volunteers offer drug users referrals to detox and treatment programs, reminding addicts that the main way to avoid the dangers of narcotics is to abstain from using them. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman