SENATOR WON'T QUIT ON NEEDLE EXCHANGE

Delaware One Of Two States Without Program

Basha Closic sees the damage wrought by intravenous drug use every
day: HIV infections, collapsed veins, broken lives.

Closic, the program director of HIV protection services at Brandywine
Counseling in Wilmington, says her job would be easier if Delaware
would pass legislation to allow drug users to exchange their dirty
needles for clean ones.

That way, drug users would reduce the risk of contracting or
spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and it would bring them
into closer contact with experts who could help them kick their drug habits.

Delaware and New Jersey are the only states in the nation that do not
allow drug users to legally obtain clean needles. In Delaware, a
prescription is required to buy or possess a hypodermic needle, even
for diabetics.

About 43 percent of Delaware's AIDS cases are caused by intravenous
drug use, compared with just 25 percent nationally. Also, Delaware's
HIV infection rate is the fifth-highest in the nation.

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East, has been fighting to
reduce those numbers, pressing for years for a pilot needle-exchange
program in Wilmington run by the Division of Public Health.

Senate Bill 60 would allow the use of a mobile health van to offer
clean needles in exchange for dirty ones and to offer HIV testing,
health counseling and other services to encourage drug addicts to
seek treatment.

Henry thought she had made a breakthrough last spring when the bill
was approved by the Senate. But things have gone downhill since, and
now the legislation has stalled.

Her bill made a brief appearance on the House agenda when the General
Assembly returned to session this month. But it did not reappear, and
now the bill has encountered major resistance in the House Republican caucus.

"There's a lot of opposition and concern," House Majority Leader
Wayne A. Smith, R-Clair Manor, said. Smith said the primary objection
is the worry that the state could actually encourage drug abuse by
providing needles.

At least one New Jersey leader disagrees.

On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. John Corzine said he will urge his
Legislature to pass a bill giving drug users access to clean needles
- - and that he would consider using his executive power to force the issue.

Henry said the Delaware bill is sorely needed for her community, the
epicenter of the state's AIDS epidemic. "It seems so sensible," Henry
said. "It would take dirty needles off the street."

Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker supports the bill, and in February
2004, City Council approved a resolution urging the General Assembly
to pass S.B. 60.

But city Police Chief Michael Szczerba opposes the idea and his view
has bolstered opposition in the House.

"The mayor has always respected dissenting views on issues within his
administration and acknowledges that [Szczerba's] view differs from
his on this matter," said John Rago, Baker's communications director.
"The prevailing position of the city government, however, is the
mayor's, and he urges passage of the legislation."

An 'Uncomfortable' Position

Szczerba said it is "uncomfortable" for him to be at odds with the
mayor, but he said he "firmly believe[s] a needle exchange program
sends a contradictory and harmful message to the citizens of
Wilmington, especially our children."

"No matter how you look at this issue, both sides would have to agree
that it boils down to putting clean needles in the hands of the
addicted so they can continue their illegal and dangerous activity,"
Szczerba said.

Henry hopes this is the year her bill becomes law.

"I talked with [Smith] today about it," Henry said Thursday, the day
that the General Assembly recessed for a six-week break. "Law
enforcement seems to be the sticking point."

Henry said she plans on finding police chiefs and law-enforcement
officials from other communities with exchange programs to offer
testimony on their experiences.

"Perhaps that will make a difference to Rep. Smith," Henry said.

Opponents of the measure could have a difficult time finding data to
back up arguments that crime increases at needle-exchange sites or
that the programs encourage drug abuse.

A Johns Hopkins University study in 2000 compared crime rates in
Baltimore before and after that city began its needle exchange
program and found that "no significant differences in arrest trends emerged."

Also in 2000, then-U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher said he and the
senior scientists at the Department of Health and Human Services had
concluded that needle-exchange programs are "an effective public
health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not
encourage the use of illegal drugs."

Opposing Views

Proponents of S.B. 60 say that for every day its passage is delayed,
another dirty needle is being shared and another HIV infection is
being risked. To that, Smith replied: "Every day you delay having
government sanction drug use through distributing needles means you
have one less kid getting turned on to drugs."

Sara Taylor Allshouse, executive director of Brandywine Counseling,
said that argument does not hold water.

"If you were in a room with needles on the coffee table, would you
want to use one?" she asked.

Without a needle exchange program, the best the Brandywine staff can
do is to offer bleach kits to drug users so they can disinfect their needles.

Drug users are given instructions on how to use the kits, and
Brandywine's Closic can only hope that they use them - but she is
under no illusion that they will.

"They are not inclined to do it. Not all the time," Closic said.

With hypodermic needles difficult to obtain, addicts tend to use them
"until they are not even sharp anymore," she said. Dull needles can
lead to other infections, and continued use of a vein can cause it to collapse.

Paul E. Aldrich, a Sharpley resident and retired DuPont Co. chemist
who researched drugs for the treatment of AIDS, said the argument
that making needles available will encourage drug use is misused.

"The spread of AIDS is a terrific problem, and one of the main
vectors for the spread of AIDS is through needles, people sharing
needles," Aldrich said. "It makes a lot of sense from a public health
standpoint to enable people to exchange needles and use sterilized needles."