S.D. CLEAN NEEDLE PLAN HITS A SNAG

3 New Council Members Register Their Opposition

The future of a clean-needle exchange program in San Diego fell into
uncertainty yesterday after three newly elected City Council members
registered their opposition.

In its first significant vote, the newly constituted council deadlocked on
a motion to extend a state of emergency declared in October by the previous
council. Under state law, such a declaration must be made before a
needle-exchange program can begin.

Five votes were necessary to extend the declaration. The District 8 council
seat is vacant. A special election to fill it is scheduled for February. If
no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election would be in
April.

Yesterday's 4-4 vote did not derail the effort to create a program, but it
did suggest the new council is more conservative than its predecessor.

The previous council declared the state of emergency after medical
professionals said San Diego County faces a hepatitis C epidemic. The virus
can be spread by the sharing of drug needles. That vote was 5-2, with two
members absent.

The previous vote was not to start distributing needles. Instead, it
directed the city manager to form a task force to plan how how such a
program could be implemented. Starting the program would require a separate
council vote.

Yesterday, Councilwoman Valerie Stallings said the previous council
intended the declaration to be a policy statement rather than a commitment
to a needle-exchange program.

"We wanted to make it very clear up front we think this is a potentially
devastating disease for our city," Stallings said.

Yesterday's vote does not stop the task force from going ahead with its work.

So far, the task force has met twice and is to come back to the council
with a status report in two months. City officials said it is unlikely the
panel will be ready to make recommendations that soon.

Newcomers Scott Peters and Toni Atkins joined veteran colleagues Byron Wear
and Stallings in voting in favor of the motion.

Mayor Dick Murphy and new Councilmen Brian Maienschein and Jim Madaffer
joined George Stevens, now the longest-serving member of the council, in
voting against it.

"We don't have enough information to continue the state of emergency,"
Maienschein said.

At the time of the October vote, then-Mayor Susan Golding and Councilwoman
Judy McCarty were the only two to oppose the move. Juan Vargas, who left
his District 8 seat after winning election to the Assembly, and Stevens
were absent.

If implemented, the needle-exchange program would be subsidized by the
nonprofit Alliance Healthcare Foundation, which gives grants to
health-related causes. Alliance officials said the foundation is willing to
spend as much as $750,000 on the program.

Yesterday, Alliance spokesman Stan Lewis blasted Stevens for opposing the
program. He said he took Stevens' position as a personal insult, noting
that the minority community is most affected by the hepatitis C virus.

"I'm really surprised and ashamed," said Lewis, who is African-American, as
is Stevens.

Adrian Kwiatkowski, speaking for Alliance, said there were 1,500 cases of
hepatitis C in San Diego County in 1998 and 3,000 a year later.

After the meeting, he said the new council members will have to be educated
on the importance of a clean-needle program.