GOLDEN GATE'S PRICKLY PROBLEM

SAN FRANCISCO has a needle problem. One month ago, Chronicle columnist
C.W. Nevius wrote about residents who live near Golden Gate Park
finding hypodermic needles discarded in their yards and littering the
park. When Nevius returned this week, Haight residents told him, as
Cole Street resident Les Silverman put it, "It has lightened up. I
have to admit."

That's great, insofar as it shows that Mayor Gavin Newsom can act in
the face of negative publicity. Early morning police sweeps have sent
the message to the homeless that Golden Gate Park is not a lifetime
campground cum shooting gallery.

Now, about that needle problem. In 1992, Mayor Frank Jordan signed
legislation to fund needle-exchange programs. The goal was to prevent
HIV and Hepatitis C transmission due to shared needles. Supporters
also believed the public would benefit as users returned dirty
needles, rather than discarding them on sidewalks, rooftops and in
playgrounds.

Needle exchanges have cut down on disease transmission, and they've
created a place where addicts can receive food, medical care, flu
shots and referrals for drug rehabilitation.

But the "exchange" element isn't working. The answer is not, as
Homeless Youth Alliance Chairman Peter Davidson suggests, opening up
city-sponsored injection centers where junkies can shoot up. A city
that bans smoking in public should not accommodate heroin use.

Instead, it's time for exchange supporters to figure out how to coax
the most self-destructive and anti-social residents of the city - not
drug addicts per se, but users who blithely drop dirty syringes where
they fall - to clean up after themselves. Failing that, supporters
should find new ways to prompt other users to pick up discarded needles.

Currently, exchange programs give needles to people who walk in
without used syringes for exchange - even though users can buy needles
at city pharmacies. Davidson argues that studies show that requiring
one-to-one (as opposed to one-to-none) exchanges do not cut down on
syringe litter. But if it hasn't worked elsewhere, that doesn't mean
the city should not test such a requirement to see if it could work.

This city, more than most, has worked hard to promote the health and
welfare of drug addicts. Now it's time for users to pay the city back.