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County to continue needle exchange By Dani Dodge Two of three Jackson County commissioners informally agreed Tuesday to continue the county�s needle exchange program as a way to get drug users clean and keep dirty syringes off the street. "The statistics are there to show we can improve the situation out there," said Commissioner Sue Kupillas. "This is only one of many ways we have to get people into drug programs." At the study session, commissioners Kupillas and Ric Holt directed County Administrator Sue Slack to prepare a resolution to continue the program another year. The resolution will go before the board for adoption in January. The county�s needle exchange program � in which intravenous drug users exchange used needles for clean ones � began in January after approval of a divided commission. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, the county spent $2,465 on needles and other supplies for the program. At Tuesday�s session, Commissioner Jack Walker stated his continued opposition to the program, although he said he wasn�t going to "make an issue out of it" because he was in the minority. "The question to me is what is government�s role?" Walker said. "I don�t think it�s to pass out ... needles. I just can�t bring myself to support saying �here�s the instrument to go out and do a crime.� " The program is intended to slow the spread of diseases among intravenous drug users and reduce the risk of the public coming in contact with dirty needles in parks and streets. Several illnesses, such as AIDS and hepatitis B and C, are transmitted by contaminated blood through the used of shared needles. People handing out needles encourage users to seek treatment for their addictions, said Hank Collins, director of the county�s Health and Human Services department. The program began in January and served 143 people who made 368 visits to the program site in west Medford. Those people exchanged 4,895 needles. An additional 148 needles were turned in by people not seeking new needles. "We do feel confident that people would not have disposed of these needles properly if not for this program," Collins said. There was a 25 percent decrease in the number of reports of discarded needles between the first four months of 1999 and the first four months of 2000. After a year of exchanging clean needles for used ones, at least 9 percent of people making the exchanges entered treatment and 13 percent were tested for HIV. Holt noted that hospital costs for treating newborns of addicts often add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. He and Kupillas said this is one program the county can offer to help prevent that. "This isn�t a political issue, this is simply common sense," Holt said. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.