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County OKs needle plan Recovering addict testifies that it's a door to treatment By PETER WONG Before Jackson County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to allow intravenous drug users to exchange used needles for clean ones, they heard straight talk from a former addict. He said he was a user for 14 years, and after several attempts at treatment and three inpatient stays, he has been drug-free for 11 months and five days. But he is a carrier of the hepatitis C virus, which damages the liver and for which there is no cure. "Every day is a miracle for me," he said. "As long as you can get the idea that treatment is available out there, even if it is for the 10 seconds they are there to exchange their needles, there is an opportunity to plant the idea in their brains. "It is not going to stop drug use or its spread. But it might help. If it stops one person from getting hepatitis C or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), then it is worth it." He was introduced as "Albert" by Commissioner Ric Holt, who met him only the day before at a gas station. Holt, who didn't know he was a former addict, asked him how he felt about the proposal. When Alfred told Holt about his past drug use, Holt persuaded him to tell his story. Holt and Commissioner Sue Kupillas voted to approve a two-year trial program, likely to be handled by an agency outside county government, with a re-evaluation of its effectiveness after one year. Commissioner Jack Walker voted "no." Some details remain unclear. OnTrack Inc. of Medford, which provides counseling and treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, has outreach workers providing bleach for intravenous drug users to sanitize needles, along with advice about how to protect themselves and get help. Walker questioned why users should be able to exchange syringes from a county program instead of buying them, and whether such a program would amount to tacit approval of illegal drugs. "It is going on anyway, in every walk of life," Albert replied. "I have shot drugs with business owners, with street people. In my opinion, it is not promoting it. It is giving them the chance to have a clean needle at that point. "I was not thinking straight at the time I was doing it. People would come by my house and exchange needles with me all the time." The county Public Health Advisory Committee recommended the program. "I think we can move these people from (drug) use into thinking about the consequences, considering getting into treatment, and remaining in sobriety and recovery," said Dr. Jonathan Gell, a committee member and medical staff director for Rogue Valley Medical Center and Providence Medford Medical Center. Holt said he was convinced by the growing local incidence of people infected with hepatitis and HIV, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the cost of their treatment. "It's pay me now or pay me later," he said. He and Kupillas said they do not condone intravenous drug use. "But we have to deal with reality, not morality," Kupillas said. "I am going to vote on this as a health issue. I will vote for it because it is an opportunity to get people into treatment _ and it gets needles off our streets, out of our parks and out of our children's hands." Walker offered an opposing view. "Morality has to have a place in making our decisions in government," he said. "As long as we keep throwing morality out, and looking only at what reality is, I think we are in deep, deep trouble." Only Monte Stamper of Medford, who has been active in socially conservative causes, testified against the proposal. "I believe the needle program continues to contribute to the drug problem, which is undermining our great society," he said. Walker got into an exchange with Mary Ann Siegel of Ashland, who said she helped run an unsanctioned needle exchange program while she lived in Detroit. Siegel: "We think we are offering people a healthy choice." Walker: "A healthy choice? Use of illegal drugs with a clean needle?" Siegel: "Let me tell you something. You are not going to stop these people from injecting illegal drugs." Walker: "We are not going to stop them by giving them clean needles." Siegel: "What we can do is reduce the risk involved with needles being thrown onto the streets, where young children are going to get them, and giving users the opportunity for treatment." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA