NEEDLE EXCHANGE PINPOINTS COMMUNITY NEED

After nearly losing his house and family, it hit Alan: He had to quit
getting loaded.

Today, Alan - who spoke on condition that his full name not be used
because of the stigma attached to addiction - has been sober for
nearly two years, and is back in school on a full-ride scholarship to
the University of Oregon.

Alan, 39, counted himself among the estimated 10,000 injection drug
users in Lane County. He also was among the 7,500 who utilize the HIV
Alliance's Sana Needle Exchange to avoid contracting HIV, Hepatitis C
and other infections.

After 10 years of sobriety with help from Narcotics Anonymous, Alan
found himself taking drugs again, especially methamphetamine, in the
spring of 2004. advertisement

"I thought I could handle it just once," he said. "But once you start
using, there's nothing else that matters more than getting loaded."

Soon he was using an eighth of an ounce of meth a day, hiding it from
his wife and 11-year-old daughter, siphoning off money earmarked for
the mortgage to pay for his fix.

He would go to the exchange once a week and trade about 30 needles.
There, he would fill out a questionnaire, which asked, "Do you want
to get help?"

"It gave me a reminder of what I was doing, the risks I was taking,"
Alan said, adding that he remains HIV and Hepatitis C negative. "The
needle exchange makes it so users remain healthy ... till they get help."

People who access services such as the needle exchange are two times
more likely to seek and be successful in detox, said Sharon
Chamberlain, director of programs and services at the HIV Alliance.

The needle exchange program operates on an annual budget of nearly
$196,000, which is about what it costs to treat just one person who
contracts HIV from a dirty needle, Chamberlain said.

Yet, because of the misconception that needle exchanges encourage
drug use, she said, the program has struggled since its inception in
1999 to find committed community donors to keep it on the street. The
United Way has given $31,092 in the past two years.

"That idea is like saying if you got rid of all the glasses in the
world, there wouldn't be any alcoholics," HIV Alliance Executive
Director Diane Lang said. "It's common-sense public health."

Forest Headley is on the front line of the needle exchange. An
AmeriCorps volunteer, Headley runs the exchange four times a week,
hauling the program's enormous white Chevrolet van to sites in the
Whiteaker and Glenwood neighborhoods.

Along with the 60,000 needles he exchanges per month, Headley
provides a pair of nonjudgmental ears, forming relationships

with clients. With every brown paper bag of clean needles, he asks
clients if they know about HIV testing, and about how to prevent
Hepatitis C. He sets up a table full of pamphlets on treatment and
overdose prevention.

The exchange users are about 60 percent male, Headley said. Some fit
the stereotype of dirty and homeless. Some don't. One is a neatly
dressed college-age woman. One is a silver-haired man wearing slacks
and a Hawaiian shirt.

A woman and two men approach the table with a bag full of about 200
needles. They joke with Headley, and take some cookies, pizza and
iced tea with their supplies.

"It's very helpful," said a 45-year-old woman who goes by Trey. "I
never use dirty needles, and I only know one place where you can buy
them. And this way, people don't toss them (on the street), which
makes it dangerous for everyone."

Trey, like many needle exchange clients, was exchanging for friends
as well. She distributes clean needles to about three other people,
she said, and stipulates that they give her the dirty ones before
they can have more.

As for Alan, who hopes to earn a degree in nursing, that's exactly
what he needed. He said he is fortunate that he was able to stay
healthy so he can have a bright future.

"Life just keeps getting better," he said. "Although it still has its
potholes, because I'm working a program of recovery, I can handle that today."