VANCOUVER NEEDLE EXCHANGE ESPERIENCE LESS THAN POSITIVE

Editor, The News:

I would like to add my voice in opposition to the establishment of a needle
exchange program (NEP) in Abbotsford.

The problem is the lack of credible evidence from already established NEPs
that the program really works to help drug addicts. The following
information, published by the Heritage Foundation, should give us pause:

"In 1996, Vancouver researchers followed 1,006 intravenous cocaine and
heroin users who visited needle exchanges, conducting periodic blood tests
and interviews. The results, published in a British research journal, were
not encouraging.

"About 40 percent of the test group reported borrowing a used needle in the
preceding six months. Worse, after only eight months, 18.6 percent of those
initially HIV-negative became infected with the virus.

"Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, was the report's lead researcher. She found it 'particularly
disturbing' that needle-sharing among program participants, despite access
to clean syringes, is common. Though a needle exchange program advocate,
Strathdee concedes that the high HIV rates are 'alarming.' "

Shepherd Smith, founder of Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy, says that
compared to similar drug-using populations in the United States, the
Vancouver results are "disastrous."

"Though it boasts the largest needle exchange program in North America,
Vancouver is straining under an AIDS epidemic. When its needle exchange
program began in 1988, HIV prevalence among IV drug users was less than two
per cent. Today it's about 23 per cent, despite a city-wide program that
dispenses 2.5 million needles a year."

The effectiveness of needle exchanges in inhibiting the spread of HIV,
then, is in doubt.

Meanwhile, they just facilitate and perpetuate the agony of drug addiction.

If we would truly have compassion on those caught in its vicious grip, drug
treatment facilities, though admittedly more costly, should be our
priority, not needle exchanges!

Bert Warden
Abbotsford