NEGOTIATIONS OVER NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN FALL APART

A dispute over the location of the Point Defiance AIDS Project's
needle exchange van will move to the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of
Health on Sept. 6, where the issue will get a public airing.

The controversy over the van's presence on the Hilltop continues after
a mediation attempt fell through.

The Hilltop Action Coalition facilitated a series of community
meetings in an attempt to find a compromise. But the community group
recently "stepped away" from the process in frustration, said
volunteer Herman Diers.

"We regret that we weren't able to work it through to an agreed
conclusion, and we have to admit that we failed," he added.

At issue is the continued presence of a van from which the free
syringe swap program operates weekdays at South 14th and South G streets.

The van's been dispensing clean needles to IV drug users at that
location since 1992.

It's a valuable weapon in the fight against AIDS and other diseases
that can be spread by dirty needles, says Dr. Federico Cruz-Uribe,
director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

And it operates exactly where it must to serve a transient population,
many of whom are homeless, said Nigel Turner of the Health
Department's communicable disease program.

Community critics don't dispute the program's effectiveness, nor its
use of taxpayer dollars.

But some residents complain it brings waves of drug dealers,
prostitutes and other problems to a neighborhood emerging from
troubled times.

Opponents thought they'd settled the issue in June when a task force
voted 7-4 that the van must move along, said community leader Denny
Faker.

"It was obvious to me and to many on that committee that the will of
the people was to not have that van there anymore," he said this week.

Faker said he was disappointed the Hilltop Action Coalition
"sidestepped the issue."

Diers, who facilitated many meetings and successfully got a mediator
involved, said the group worked hard, but the negotiations were
aborted when a consensus couldn't be reached.

Ultimately, whether to move the van is a Health Department decision,
Diers said.

Health officials are sensitive to community concerns and have taken
measures to mitigate the van's presence, Cruz-Uribe said.

Those include encouraging many of the van's clients to get their
needles through other available outlets, including at nearly two dozen
area pharmacies that sell clean syringes for a small fee, no questions
asked, Turner said.

Visits to the van are down from an average of 681 a month last year to
470 a month during the first seven months of 2006, according to Point
Defiance AIDS Project founder Dave Purchase.

Tacoma City Councilman Rick Talbert, who serves on the board of
health, believes in the need for the program and sees its
effectiveness, but he said he also thinks the issue needs a "public
airing."

It's on the board's agenda for a report and possible discussion Sept.
6, but no vote is scheduled.

Faker said he's eager "to put the gloves on and go to round
two."

"We're not telling them don't exchange needles," he said. "We're just
telling them to find another way to do it."

[sidebar]

What: Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health meeting

When: 3 p.m. Sept. 6

Where: Auditorium at Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, 3629 S. D St.

On the agenda: A report on the county's needle exchange program for IV
drug users, including the operation of the Point Defiance AIDS project
needle exchange van on the Hilltop

Public comment? Yes. Members of the public may comment on items on the
agenda.