RESISTANCE TO NEEDLE EXCHANGE

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 believe such political
resistance to needle exchange 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.

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," Glotzer said.

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.

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.

Nassau and Suffolk health officials said that although they run no
needle exchange programs, the number of AIDS cases diagnosed on Long
Island has fallen significantly.

"All the information we have shows that AIDS is decreasing," said
Nassau Health Department spokeswoman Sandra Gagliardo. "In 1996, there
were 233 AIDS cases; in 1997, 161 cases; in 1998, 129 cases; in 1999,
118 cases. And for first six months of 2000, there were 11 cases."

Suffolk County spokeswoman Millie Svatek said that AIDS cases have
decreased there too, dropping from 257 cases diagnosed in 1996 to 97
cases diagnosed in 1999, the latest year for which Suffolk had data.

Staff writer Carol Eisenberg contributed to this story.