MAGAZINE COVER HITS A NERVE, IS CHANGED

Activists Alter Headline On Newsstands

Sidebar: About 2,000 copies of the latest issue of Worcester Magazine
were vandalized on newsstands. The headline on the cover story
originally read: "What neighborhoods face when drugstores sell
needles like cigarettes." But some copies of the free weekly
newspaper were doctored so that the headline read as seen above.:
"Less HIV infections is What neighborhoods face when drugstores sell
needles like cigarettes." (T&G Photo)

WORCESTER-- Some local activists were outraged with the headline on
the cover story of the current issue of Worcester Magazine, believing
it trivialized the importance of the new state law allowing
over-the-counter needle sales.

So they decided to do something about it.

The headline originally read: "What neighborhoods face when
drugstores sell needles like cigarettes." But there are about 2,000
copies of the free weekly newspaper that were doctored so that the
headline read: "Less HIV infections is What neighborhoods face when
drugstores sell needles like cigarettes."

A cadre of local people in their late 20s, two of whom spoke on
condition of anonymity, spread out through the inner city late last
week, affixing homemade stickers to about 2,000 copies of the paper.

The original headline, said one defacer who identified himself as
Mike, amounted to fear-mongering.

"The real issue here is reducing the rate of HIV infection," said
another participant, who identified herself only as Linda.

The two acknowledged that what they had done was illegal. But they
said they were moved to act because they were unhappy with the tenor
of the local debate over the clean needle legislation.

In Worcester, Mike said, the debate seems to be dominated by people
who argued that providing easy access to syringes sends a message
that intravenous drug use is OK. Boston boasts a significantly lower
percentage of HIV infections by needle than Worcester and any of the
Massachusetts communities that do not have needle exchange, according
to the state Department of Public Health.

The bottom line, said Mike, is that Massachusetts is joining 47 other
states in allowing clean needles to be sold at pharmacies.

"Every single Red State allows over-the-counter sales of needles.
This is allowed all across the Bible belt. The only two states that
have not passed over-the-counter syringe legislation are New Jersey
and Delaware."

The Massachusetts law, enacted when the Legislature overrode a Gov.
Mitt Romney veto, takes effect Sept. 18.

The fight about the over-the-counter needle bill was an offshoot of a
contentious debate over clean needle exchange that in recent years
has visited many cities in Massachusetts. Supporters of
needle-exchange programs point to Boston and Cambridge -- both have
been distributing needles to addicts for more than a decade -- which
boast the lowest rates of injection-related HIV transmissions in the state.

The HIV service community was virtually united in support of
distributing needles to addicts who otherwise would be prone to
sharing needles and spreading the disease. But in many cases it ran
into political opposition.

District 4 City Councilor Barbara G. Haller has been one of
Worcester's leading opponents of providing addicts with easy access
to clean needles, arguing that the policy amounts to condoning drug use.

In the wake of the more than two-thirds override vote by both the
Senate and House, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts Executive
Director Rebecca Haag said the result will be saved lives, fewer new
infections and health care costs savings in the millions. The state
Department of Public Health says 39 percent of people with HIV/AIDS
in Massachusetts are infected directly or indirectly by a dirty needle.

Mike pointed to a 2001 study that shows when clean needles are made
available to addicts, communities are able to cut their rate of
infection in half.

Mike and Linda said they met with positive response as they entered
stores where Worcester Magazine is distributed and attached their
stickers. Mike said he handed an unaltered copy of the paper to a
would-be reader who had come to pick one up. He said the man,
noticing the pile with the new headline, put aside the original and
said, "Actually, I'd rather have that one."

"I think the sticker makes the headline much more reasonable," Mike said.

Worcester Magazine Chairman and Treasurer Allen W. Fletcher was
unfazed by the attack on his latest edition. The perpetrators, he
said, "sound like they're very industrious."