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Board favors needle program Wants county to try exchange system By SUSAN JAY Intravenous drug users could get clean needles under a plan being explored by public health officials in an attempt to prevent addicts and the public from disease. The Jackson County Public Health Advisory Board told public health administrators and alcohol and drug abuse experts Monday to develop a needle exchange program for review. Any such program would be contracted out to a nongovernmental agency, because federal law forbids spending tax money on needle exchange programs. On Monday afternoon, the board heard from IV drug users, the county sheriff and drug abuse treatment experts on the pros and cons of exchanging dirty needles for clean ones. After hearing about used needles showing up in parks and other public places, board members said they wanted to try such a program on a pilot basis. They also said they want such a program to focus on introducing IV drug users to treatment and counseling, and they want a way to track the program's effectiveness. A needle exchange program is an effective way to reduce the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, said Steve Brummett, manager of the county's alcohol and drug abuse programs. More than 85 percent of his 171 methadone clients have Hepatitis C and a few have died of it in the past couple of years, he said. Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by a virus transmitted from one person's blood to another's, as in needle injections or transfusions. Sometimes people don't feel symptoms for several years after infection, but 20 percent of those who have chronic infection go on to develop liver complications, including cirrhosis. Sharing needles is the second leading cause of HIV transmission in Jackson County, Brummett said. "We can reduce the incidence of HIV and Hep C" among IV drug users, Brummett said, with a needle exchange program, which would also reduce the health costs to the community. The rate of HIV infection is lower in European countries such as England, which has a needle exchange program, than in countries without, Brummett said. In Amsterdam, 1 million needles are distributed a year, with 93 percent of the needles exchanged for an old needle. Jackson County Sheriff Bob Kennedy questioned those figures. He said he had a study that challenged the Amsterdam statistics, and he said there is as much evidence against such programs as in favor. Many are just needle "giveaway programs," he said. "If it's just a needle exchange program, I'm not really supportive of it," he said. But, if it was designed to emphasize outreach and got drug users into treatment, he would support it. Hayden Munn, a 43-year-old methadone client, agreed. Once in a long while, he said, he injects drugs, but he never shares needles. He said he can't understand why people do, especially because syringes are so cheap and so available. In Seattle, needle exchange programs focus on places frequented by IV drug users. In Medford, Munn said, drug users wouldn't be likely to walk into a building or central location to exchange their needles, so he wondered how such a program would be implemented. Rita Sullivan, executive director of OnTrack Inc., said her agency already uses outreach workers on the street to hand out bottles of bleach to IV drug users to disinfect their needles. A needle exchange program could work the same way, she said. She agreed with Munn that many IV drug users do not seek screening and treatment services, for a variety of reasons. Hank Collins, director of Jackson County Health and Human Services, said a needle exchange program would help reach users. In a small community like Jackson County, most IV drug users use in their homes, and it's difficult to find them. Clean needles would offer drug users an incentive to meet outreach workers, he said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA