NEEDLE SWAP RESISTED

Residents Like Idea, But Not In Their Neighborhoods

For more than three years, Philip Glotzer, executive director of the AIDS
Center of Queens County, has tried to establish a needle exchange program
for drug users in the borough. But each time, he encountered the same
response.

"People will say they support needle exchange to stop the spread of AIDS in
Queens, but nobody wants it in their neighborhood," said Glotzer. "There is
resistance from legislators and from the community. We just can't generate
support."

AIDS activists and needle exchange advocates have long believe such
political resistance to needle exchange programs is the reason HIV infection
rates remain high among intravenous drug users in Queens and Staten Island
as well as on Long Island, where there are no such programs.

Yesterday new data made public at the National HIV Prevention Conference
showed infection rates had dropped among IV drug users in New York City with
the exception of the areas without exchange sites. Researchers attributed
the decrease to participation in the city's 11 needle exchange programs
which operate in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn.

In Queens and Staten Island, as well as on Long Island, advocates said users
either trekked to sites in other boroughs or resorted to sharing dirty
syringes. According to the city health department, almost half of all
120,000 AIDS cases in New York last year were transmitted by intravenous
drug use.

"It's a logical conclusion. Accessibility to clean syringes minimizes the
spread of AIDS," said Glotzer. "Maybe this study will enlighten people to
that fact."

Joyce Rivera, executive director of St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction in
the South Bronx, said the findings were predictable. But Rivera argued that
lifting a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs would have a
more powerful impact.

"Needle exchange programs are having a protective effect on the public.
Without the programs, these numbers would be even more egregious," said
Rivera, who has run a needle exchange since 1990. "With more funding, we
could really make some headway."

A state law that took effect this year, allowing drug stores to sell
syringes without prescription, is expected to further stem the spread of
AIDS through drug use. But, advocates said, many addicts remain unaware that
they can purchase the needles, because the law prohibits drug stores from
advertising. Others are reluctant to buy syringes in a public place.

In a new program related to the state law, the AIDS Center of Queens County
will supply clean needles and syringes, free of charge, at their offices in
Rego Park, Jamaica and Far Rockaway.

Glotzer believes the lack of needle exchange programs is only part of the
explanation for the Queens rates. Recently, he said, the borough has seen a
rise in the number of cases among immigrant drug users.

"Immigrants are probably the hardest groups to reach and educate about
needle exchange. It would be interesting to know how that population factors
into this study," he said.