NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROPOSAL DELAYED PENDING 'HAMP VISIT

HOLYOKE - A City Council proposal to create a needle-exchange
program in the city will remain bottled up in committee a while
longer, while its sponsor arranges for councilors to visit a
successful program in Northampton.

Ward 2 City Councilor Diosdado Lopez said last night that, by the
time his proposal comes up for a vote by the full council, one or
more nonprofit agencies will have drafted concrete proposals to set
up a needle-exchange program here.

"We want to put a program together and go into the council," Lopez
said last night.

"And I'm pretty sure there will be a couple of agencies putting in
plans," he said. "At least I'm hoping."

Lopez, who said a needle-exchange program would help combat AIDS and
other diseases, spoke last night after the council's Public Safety
Committee canceled its meeting for lack of a quorum.

But Councilor at large Patrick J. Higgins, who chairs the committee,
said he agreed beforehand not to bring the measure to a vote at
Lopez's request.

Recent state data shows that Holyoke has 273 people living with the
HIV virus or AIDS, which represents a rate of 647 per 100,000,
one-third higher than in Springfield and more than three times the
state rate. Of those, two-thirds contracted the diseases through
intravenous drug use.

Of those infected with HIV-AIDS in Holyoke, the data shows that 56
percent are male, with 84 percent of them of Hispanic origin.

Earlier this month, the City Council voted 10-4 in favor of placing a
question on the Nov. 6 ballot asking voters whether they want to
create a needle-exchange program in the city.

Mayor Michael J. Sullivan, who is personally opposed to that
initiative and favors the state making such decisions, signed the
order. He said residents would benefit from a public debate on the
issue, which elicits legitimate health and public-policy questions.

Also this month, Chicopee aldermen voted 12-0 against becoming part
of a pilot program for a state needle-exchange program. And in
Springfield, a similar measure failed when the City Council split 4-4.