CLEAN NEEDLES MAKE SENSE

Thanks to thoughtful action by the Board of Supervisors, Santa Barbara
County will have its first hypodermic syringe exchange program.

The board declared a medical emergency, which is a requirement for starting
a needle exchange program. The action has been approved at the state level;
Gov. Gray Davis last fall signed a law that protects local needle exchange
programs from criminal liability.

Davis had been reluctant to take such a step because he said providing
clean syringes to known drug addicts sends the "wrong signal to our youth."

Apparently the reality of the situation caused the governor to change his
mind -- and to recognize that more than signals are involved in a workable
needle exchange program.

Dirty needles are responsible for the transmission of the B and C varieties
of hepatitis, and plays a significant role in the movement from person to
person of HIV infections. County records show more than 1,300 people have
contracted the two forms of hepatitis in the past five years. There are an
estimated 2,000 people with HIV in the county, and needle sharing has been
identified as a factor in 14 percent of the cases.

Health officials have no way of knowing for sure, but they estimate that
thousands more county residents are suffering from hepatitis and AIDS --
perhaps as many as 10,000 cases that simply are not reported to the
county's Communicable Disease Department. Those officials feel strongly
enough about the situation to refer to it as an epidemic.

And it's an epidemic a well-run needle exchange program can help defeat.
The program will be administered by the Pacific Pride Foundation. Along
with providing clean needles in exchange for dirty ones, Pacific Pride
officials will counsel and supply educational materials to needle exchange
clients on the problems related to drug use and disease.

That is a critically important feature of the program. Exchanging dirty
needles for clean needles is only part of the service, and only part of the
reason why this program may prove so valuable for the community. The other
part is having access to and opening a line of communications with people
who have self-destructive habits.