PROGRAM FOR EXCHANGING NEEDLES TO BE REVIEWED

San Diego's City Council approved its pilot needle exchange program by a
one-vote margin in November 2001 over the objections of Mayor Dick Murphy.
But under state law, the council every two weeks must vote to declare a
state of emergency to allow the needle exchange to continue. Murphy said a
needle exchange program runs counter to his goal of making San Diego
America's safest city. The council, which favors the needle exchange
program 6-3, is set to make its first detailed review of the pilot program
at a public hearing Tuesday.

So far, the number of dirty needles collected exceeds the number of clean
ones given out, said Fran Butler Cohen, executive director of Family Health
Centers of San Diego, which operates the needle exchange under a contract
with the Alliance Healthcare Foundation. An AHF grant covers the needle
exchange's $334,000 cost. Nearly 18,000 dirty needles have been turned in
since the program's July start. As of mid-December, about 13,000 clean
needles had been given out, Cohen said.

More importantly, Cohen said, 37 people who came to exchange needles have
been referred to drug treatment programs, and 75 have been sent for
detoxification. In addition, Cohen said 14 people have been referred to
mental health programs, 135 people to primary medical care, and 244 to a
variety of other programs, such as those that screen for hepatitis and STDs.

When the council approved the pilot program, the plan was to have it
running by now in North Park and City Heights as well as downtown, but
community opposition has made it difficult to find sites. Councilmember
Toni Atkins, whose district includes City Heights and North Park, said she
hopes to have sites chosen in those communities within a month. The problem
is that with 171 people enrolled as repeat users at the downtown site and a
shortage of space at drug treatment centers, the downtown exchange has
reached capacity, Cohen said.