STATE SLICES, AGENCIES BLEED

It's too late now to stop Dawn from sticking the needle, that first needle,
into her arm.

It was long ago and far away, and one high blurred into so many that in no
time a poor choice became a powerful craving became a poisonous sickness.
Now 29, she is clean. She is also positive for HIV and hepatitis C.

"I'm the poster child for everything you should not do," she says. "I'm
from a beautiful family, well-educated, well-loved and yet I'd go shoot up
in alleys."

Dawn volunteers for The Works, a Boulder County Health Department program
helping IV-drug users. The Works provides education, testing, vaccines and
clean needles in exchange for used ones. It is one of the few programs in
the country where law enforcement ignores statutes against possession of
drug paraphernalia in the interest of public health.

Dawn, Michelle and Monique, three first-name-only women, are former users
now helping IV-drug users, a group isolated, scorned and very sick. About
62 percent have hepatitis C and 4 percent are carrying HIV, says Chuck
Stout, county health department director.

Which is why the women cannot believe the department, faced with
state-mandated budget cuts, is recommending the layoff of all three of The
Works' paid outreach workers. Only the program coordinator and a $50,000
budget would remain. The Boulder County Board of Health is scheduled to
discuss the recommendation at a public hearing tonight.

"This is tragic," says Michelle, a tall, thin redhead. "I know some people
have the attitude that says, "Who cares about junkies?' but a lot of people
make mistakes in life, and they come out of it."

The women have never heard of Nancy McCallin, Ph.D. She's the governor's
budget director, the economist who drafted the much criticized $46 million
in budget cuts.

"People don't get it," she says. The state has $930 million less to spend
this year than it did last year. More than 80 percent of the budget is
off-limits, reserved by law for education and Medicaid, transportation,
corrections.

So she targeted programs that could get money elsewhere, or relied on
one-time grants. She tried to balance rural and metro needs. She kept money
for kids deep in trouble rather than for those headed for it.

"We made choices to not touch a lot of things we felt state government
should do, that no one else would pick up," she said. "We were trying to
separate what was nice from what was necessary."

Stout won't buy that.

"We don't do these programs because they are neat, because, oh, gee, that
sounds fun," he says. "Every one of them has been targeted to a need in the
community."

Colorado receives less state funding for public health than all but two
other states, Stout says. Every cut slices meat.

He blames an administration he says has no sense of social responsibility
or partnership. McCallin blames a legislature she says stuck its head in
the sand. Should we blame ideology, politics, plain bad times? I'm still
reading the 300-page budget for answers.

Every cut has become morally weighted: rural nurses or special-needs kids?
Housing for the working poor or money to keep kids out of jail? Dawn can
tell you what will happen if The Works funding is cut. A message will be
sent to a group of people that already feels worthless. It will shout:
Times are tough, we have to spend what we have elsewhere, on someone else,
someone who matters more than you.