CITY PANEL WILL CONSIDER PRIVATE NEEDLE-SWAP PLAN

Exchanges Would Be Tied To Treatment

San Diego drug users could swap dirty needles for clean ones in hopes
of curbing the spread of hepatitis, AIDS and other blood-borne diseases
under a proposal set for review by a City Council committee next week.

Under the proposal by the Alliance Healthcare Foundation, details of
the needle exchange would be worked out by a task force that would
include police and community representatives. The proposal will be
presented to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee at 9
a.m. Wednesday in City Hall.

The exchanges would be tied to some sort of treatment or counseling for
drug users, said Stephanie Casenza, a spokeswoman for the foundation.

"These programs are good bridges to treatment," Casenza said. "For many
people, it's their one contact with anyone who knows anything about
health."

Councilman Harry Mathis, vice chairman of the committee, and Councilman
Byron Wear, a committee member, said they were inclined to support
needle exchange with the proper safeguards. The committee has been
without a chairman since the resignation last month of Barbara Warden,
who went to work for a cable television company.

"It's something we need to look at," Mathis said. "It appears to be
working in areas where it's been tried."

Wear, a former lifeguard, said he hopes needle exchange would lessen
the number of dirty needles left on beaches and streets where parks
workers, police and other public safety workers are in danger of
getting stuck by them.

"It's worth trying in light of the public benefit," Wear said.

Mathis said he would want the exchange to be run by a private group
instead of the city.

"I just don't think government should be doing it," Mathis said.

Casenza said the foundation, a nonprofit, independent philanthropic
health-care group, would raise private money to pay for a two-to three-
year pilot program.

Mayor Susan Golding has not taken a position on the proposal to form a
task force, said her press secretary, Ric Grenell.

"She has supported syringe exchange programs in the past as long as
they are combined with a comprehensive drug treatment program," Grenell
said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical
Association, the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Conference
of Mayors endorse needle exchanges as an effective way to reduce the
transmission of lethal blood-borne viruses.

Under a state law that took effect in January, the City Council must
declare a public health state of emergency before adopting a needle
exchange program. Several cities in California, including Los Angeles,
have taken such a step. No San Diego County cities have done so,
although National City is considering a needle exchange program.

A group of volunteer activists has skirted the law and operated a
clandestine program, called San Diego Clean Needle Exchange, since
early 1992.

Critics say that handing out free needles encourages drug use.

But Casenza said studies have shown that needle exchange programs do
not increase drug abuse.