NEEDLE PROGRAM OPPOSED

Needle Exchange Opposition Sought

SPRINGFIELD - City Councilor Timothy J. Rooke filed a resolution
this week that calls on the council to formally oppose any form of a
needle exchange program in Springfield.

The wording of the resolution, however, was immediately criticized by
needle program advocates.

"I think it is worded exactly the way people who are sponsoring it
want it to be worded," Councilor Carol J. Lewis-Caulton said last
night. "It is set up in a very negative way. I am not surprised."

The resolution claims that the needle exchange programs in Boston and
Northampton, designed to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS by
eliminating the sharing of needles, actually increased the rate of the
disease in those two cities. State and Northampton health officials
reject this deduction.

Rooke's resolution minimizes the research that supports the success of
needle programs, Lewis-Caulton said. The non-binding resolution will
be considered at the next council meeting Monday at 7:30 p.m. at City
Hall.

Rooke said a citizen group, the Springfield Alliance for Needle
Exchange (SANE), recently asked the council to reconsider its
opposition, and the resolution is his proposed answer. Four of the
nine councilors have joined as sponsors: Daniel D. Kelly, Angelo J.
Puppolo Jr., Timothy J. Ryan and Domenic J. Sarno, which represents a
council majority.

The resolution states the council "hereby goes on record as opposed to
a needle exchange program or any form thereof, but wishes to express
its concern for the HIV virus and AIDS disease and seeks support for
alternative solutions to these problems."

The resolution further states the council "continues to support the
methadone clinic, outreach, education, treatment on demand, and
partner notification in its effort to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS."

The needle program has been rejected twice by the council in 1996 and
1998.

Officials representing the Northampton needle program and the state
Department of Public Health disagreed.

"We have no indication there is an increased rate in Northampton and
Boston related to the needle exchange program," said Jean F. McGuire,
director of the health department's AIDS Bureau. "In fact, our data
indicates the city of Boston and Northampton itself have lower HIV
related cases associated with intravenous drug use than the city of
Springfield."

Elizabeth V. Simon of SANE said last night she very strongly disagrees
with the resolution.

Timothy W. Purington, director of Northampton's needle program, said
the rate of HIV infection in Northampton has been very low and
continues to be very low, particularly for intravenous drug users.

"I would wish the City Council does some fact finding before they
would take a vote on a resolution like this," Purington said. "It
sounds like it is filled with non-factual information."