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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman