HAMPDEN NEEDS NEEDLE PROGRAM, CITY SAYS

Baltimore City Health Department counselor Jeffrey Long talks to a
drug addict as they exchange needles inside a recreational vehicle
Sept. 29. In a recreational vehicle parked along a row of abandoned
rowhouses off Greenmount Avenue, drug addicts place bundles of used
syringes in a biohazard container and receive new ones in return.

Baltimore City Health Department counselor Jeffrey Long counts the
old needles and enters the numbers into a laptop computer. "Five, 10,
15, 20," he counts.

The scene at 24th and Barclay streets is part of the daily routine
for the health department's Needle Exchange Program, which operates
in 14 neighborhoods with high addiction rates.

Health officials think the program is needed in Hampden, too.

Officials approached the Hampden Community Council Sept. 25 to gauge
its interest in the Needle Exchange Program. The 12-year-old program
tries to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS through intravenous drug use
by giving the users -- mostly heroin addicts -- clean needles,
condoms, counseling and educational materials in exchange for their
old needles.

Whether the Hampden council will give its blessing is unclear.

Genny Dill, the council president, said she wants officials to come
to more meetings to discuss strategies and where the RV would operate.

"The drug problem is an epidemic throughout Baltimore. It's sad to
see our neighbors struggling with addiction and dying in our
community," Dill told the Messenger in an e-mail. "Many of these
addicts are neighbors of ours -- our neighbors' children, friends or
relatives."

Program director Lamont Coger said his team could serve Hampden immediately.

"We are ready to go," he said.

Needle-exchange employees approached the council because a recent
report says 911 calls for opiate-related drug overdoses are rapidly
increasing in the neighborhood.

Hampden has had 31 such calls this year as of Sept. 25, compared with
20 in 2005, Coger said.

Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein said the 911 call data don't
necessarily indicate an upturn in drug use. However, he said tracking
the frequency of 911 calls is the way the department identifies drug hot spots.

"I would call the 911 data kind of a red flag," Sharfstein said.

Coger said he was surprised to learn heroin is a growing problem in
Hampden, although he knew the community has drug problems.

Dill, too, was surprised. "I think it would be safe to say that
nobody thought that the ODs got worse," she said.

Sharfstein wasn't quite as taken aback by the increase in drug-
related 911 calls from Hampden.

"Baltimore has just a terrible drug problem and has had a terrible
drug problem for a long time," Sharfstein said.

Although some Hampden residents may think bringing a mobile exchange
unit to the neighborhood is excessive, Sharfstein said it wouldn't be
an extraordinary measure.

"Ideally, when drug use moves into a community we want to be there to
address the public health component," he said.

The program is working, according to statistics from the Maryland
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which says that the rate of
new HIV infections from intravenous drug use has dropped nearly 20
percent in the city since the program started.

The health department claims to have disposed of millions of used needles.

The exchange program also plays a role in getting addicts into
drug-treatment programs, such as methadone clinics.

But the most immediate goal of the program is to make sure that each
addict who shows up has clean needles, bleach water and cotton to
clean the skin and condoms to protect them and anyone with whom they
have sexual contact.

A fairly healthy-looking young woman climbs aboard the RV.

"You want some longer needles?" Long asks.

She thinks for a minute and declines. Long asks if she needs anything
else. She smiles and politely says no.

"I've got enough condoms," she says before getting out of the RV and
shuffling up Barclay Street.