SENATOR'S PERSISTENCE BRINGS LONG OVERDUE DRUG REFORM TO STATE

On Thursday the First State became one of the last states to permit a
needle-exchange program to stem the increase in HIV and hepatitis C infections.

Aided by an overwhelming tide of supportive research and anecdotal
evidence, Senate Bill 20 won passage in the House by 23-15 after a
decade of consideration. It wasn't the patience of Job that finally
brought the state into the real world but the persistence of Sen.
Margaret Rose Henry.

The five-year pilot program will cost $315,000 the first year for a
specially equipped van, supplies and salaries for social workers and
counselors.

Swapping clean needles for dirty needles to prevent the spread of
disease seems a no-brainer. But it is also ethically murky,
considering that the users are breaking drug laws in the process.

Research finds no evidence that such programs increase drug
addiction. Advocates for diabetics see unfairness in the free
distribution of a device they are required to pay for to lawfully
inject life-saving insulin. This objection merits consideration, but
not at the risk of sidelining the more compelling concern of the
ravaging illegal drug use is having on the wider society.

Infection from dirty needles is a leading cause of AIDS in Delaware,
which had the nation's sixth-highest AIDS rate from all causes in
2004. Through 2004, 48 percent of the state's AIDS patients were
intravenous drug users or people who had sex with them. The national
average is 31 percent.

The numbers are skyrocketing in the black community. In Delaware,
where 19 percent of residents are black, 66 percent of AIDS patients
through 2004 were black, sixth highest in America.

Still it is worrisome that Sen. Henry's efforts are approved as a
"pilot" program for the city of Wilmington. Intravenous addicts and
hepatitis C carriers can be found throughout the state, from Seaford
to Claymont and in many smaller communities in between.

Quickly documenting any success of the pilot should be a priority to
make the case for offering similar services throughout the state.