TROUBLING RISE OF RISKY BEHAVIOR

Habits of intravenous drug users have become more risky since Willimantic's
unpopular needle-exchange program was shut down, according to a survey by
University of Connecticut researchers. The increased public-health threat
should worry residents.

Despite evidence that providing clean needles to heroin addicts reduces the
risk of AIDS and other diseases, residents blamed the exchange for the
city's growing drug problems. Giving junkies needles, the argument went,
was tantamount to giving bullets to murderers. In March 1997, after a
small girl was pricked by a discarded hypodermic needle, the
needle-exchange program was discontinued.

Now comes an instructive report compiled by Robert S. Broadhead and his
fellow sociologists. They offer persuasive data that the risk of disease
has risen sharply. Moreover, drug use has not dropped off as hoped.

The researchers are open advocates of needle exchange. Still, it's hard to
argue with their facts. They interviewed more than 300 addicts and
monitored drug-related debris from places where users congregate.

Before the needle exchange ended, 14 percent of addicts sampled reported
using needles from unsafe sources. Post-exchange, that self-reported
number rose to as high as 51 percent. Also, the practice of sharing
needles and other paraphernalia has doubled, partly because most area
pharmacists have stopped selling needles without a prescription.

Meanwhile, discarded drug debris has increased slightly since the needle
exchange ended. The researchers claim their findings match a separate
inventory by the town of Windham, which includes Willimantic.

No community wants drug users. But pretending that they don't exist is
asking for trouble.