NEEDLE EXCHANGE ADVOCATES CLASH WITH OPPONENTS AT HEARING TO EXPAND PROGRAM

Activists in Boston marked the 20th anniversary of the first reports
of AIDS by demonstrating at the Legislature Health Care Committee
meeting on Monday. Local public health officials should have the
authority to ignore local opposition to needle exchange, the activists
said.

"Contagious disease does not read the map of Massachusetts. It goes,
it goes wherever it can," said Rep. Byron Rushing (D- Boston). But
Rep. John Binienda, (D-Worcester) said his city has twice voted down
such a program. "Why, then, would the state want to encourage it?"
Local opposition to clean needle programs has discouraged them in all
but four communities: Boston, Cambridge, Northampton and
Provincetown.

If the state won't override local control of the programs, activists
urged lawmakers to at least decriminalize over-the-counter sales of
needles. In Boston and Cambridge, HIV infection rates related to
intravenous drug use are less than 25 percent, according to activists.
In New Bedford, which defeated a needle program, the rate of HIV
infection related to intravenous drug use is 60 percent. Department of
Public Health Commissioner Howard Koh told the state committee that he
would like to see the number of needle exchange programs increase.