CLEAN SYRINGES STILL HARD TO FIND

"I'm coming down from speed," says the homeless man matter-of-factly, the
way other people talk about needing coffee.

At age 23, Adam Van Allen still looks fresh-faced enough for a college track
team, except that the only race he's running is against his own addiction.

Right now he needs a fix. So he sits on the sidewalk on Broadway, around the
corner from a park known for its drug trade, asking people for spare change.
But even if he begs enough money to feed the heroin and crystal meth habits
that he says have taken control of his life, he needs one more thing -- a
clean needle.

That's where a new state law is supposed to come in.

King County is estimated to have 15,000 injection drug users who live
throughout Seattle and its suburbs. Each of those users is believed to shoot
up an average of three times a day.

That means they need about 17 million syringes a year if they are to avoid
sharing dirty, used ones, which can spread hepatitis, AIDS and other
blood-borne diseases, said Michael Hanrahan of Public Health, Seattle & King
County.

But the health agency gives out only 2 million syringes annually through its
needle-exchange program, which allows drug users to trade in dirty needles
for clean ones at Capitol Hill, downtown, Rainier Valley, South Park,
University District and White Center sites.

Now, a growing number of pharmacies are starting to fill the gap.

The state Legislature this year passed a law allowing private pharmacies to
sell syringes to anyone 18 or older -- whether or not they need them for
insulin or other legally allowed injections.

Since the law took effect in July, county health officials have been
recruiting pharmacies to sign "memorandums of agreement" promoting the law's
goal of preventing disease.

Pharmacies agree to sell clean needles and, at the same time, give the
buyers information about drug treatment and safe needle disposal. And under
the agreements, Public Health gives pharmacists and their staffs training on
blood-borne disease transmission, said Hanrahan, the health agency's
prevention coordinator for drugs and HIV/AIDS.

So far, more than half the pharmacies approached by health officials have
signed agreements, he said.

But Hanrahan and others said it's still too early to measure the law's
effectiveness. For example, Mike McMurray, spokesman for Bartell drug
stores, said the regional chain has not tracked growth of its syringe sales
since the law changed.

Over the weekend, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer informal survey of
pharmacists on Broadway and in downtown Seattle found that some don't
realize the law has changed. And several pharmacies, including two of the
biggest ones on Capitol Hill's main drag, still do not sell syringes without
prescriptions.

That hasn't become a problem yet for Van Allen. He said he gets all of his
needles from the exchange program in Capitol Hill.

"When you bring a dirty needle in," he says, you get a clean one free.

But the exchange goes on for only a couple of hours each day, he adds. Last
night's 10th Avenue exchange went from 6 to 8:30 p.m., attracting a steady
trickle of users.

Although Van Allen worries about getting a disease, he does sometimes share
dirty needles.

"I trust my friends enough to tell me if they have AIDS or something," he
says.

Van Allen has averted the grip of illness so far. "Last time I went to jail,
they gave me an AIDS test and it came up negative," he says.

But he has had friends with Hepatitis C.

"That's the worst," he says. "Some of them disappear. I don't know if
they're alive or dead."

That's why Van Allen, other drug injectors and many health officials,
including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support the
new law. They want to stop people from dying.

"I got turned onto dope when I was 14 years old. I've been struggling with
it ever since," said Rex, 23, as he exchanged a plastic box of needles last
night.

He said he has friends who share dirty needles, jeopardizing their health,
because they still think it's illegal to buy them in stores and don't want
to risk arrest. "People are still going to do it (shoot drugs.) They'll just
use somebody else's" needle, he said.

Not everyone agrees with the law. Sixteen state senators and 31 House
members voted against the measure, sponsored by Rep. Jeannie Darnielle, when
it passed in March.

One downtown pharmacist, who was not authorized to speak for her company and
therefore declined to be named, said she is not sure the law is a good
thing.

She said she offers the health department's prevention information to people
who buy the $3 needles. But often, they won't take it. They pretend they use
the needles for insulin.

"It's because it's an uncomfortable subject," she said. "They confuse
counseling with preaching."

The pharmacist said she personally will not sell needles to people who are
only 18 or 19 years old, when it's apparent "they've just joined the club."

"I don't want to be the one who plays a role in pushing their lives down the
drain," she added.

She said another pharmacist nearby won't sell needles because he doesn't
want to draw drug users to his business.

Even some of the street people interviewed over the weekend had mixed
feelings about the new law.

"People can do more damage to themselves with a needle," said John, a man in
the Capitol Hill park who declined to give his last name. And a young woman
sitting nearby echoed the concern that selling syringes to junkies promotes
their drug dependence.

But they also said it's better to make clean needles available for the sake
of public health.

In the past, needle exchange programs have stirred controversy among
neighbors who don't want drug users congregating around them.

But a single pharmacy is unlikely to attract as many users as free needle
exchanges. The 10th Avenue needle exchange, for example, draws 45 to 50
people a night.

Pharmacies agreeing to sell needles are sprinkled throughout the county,
including some in Burien, the Eastside, Renton Highlands, Greenwood and West
Seattle.

And most pharmacists interviewed over the weekend said they have seen little
demand for the syringes since the private sales were legalized.

As of 2:30 p.m. yesterday, only three drug users had bought needles at a
downtown pharmacy located just blocks from the corner of Second Avenue and
Pike Street.

In recent years, surveys by the state Health Department have found that
two-thirds of Washington residents support needle exchanges as a way to
reduce the spread of disease -- and to limit the costs to taxpayers and
health consumers of treating indigent users, Hanrahan said.

Statewide, there are about 41,000 injection drug users. They account for
about 21 percent of the state's AIDS cases, according to a House report on
the new law.

"What the pharmacy syringe campaign does is further broaden the access,"
said the health agency's Hanrahan. "It is yet another avenue for the people
who use drugs by injection to do so safely."