AIDS STOKES DEBATE OVER NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM

NEW BRITAIN - Heroin is the drug of choice in this depressed, working- class
city, where addicts sharing dirty needles have pushed the HIV infection rate
to four or five times the state average.

The mayor acknowledges drugs are far and away the city's the biggest law
enforcement headache.

Yet seven years after New Haven established Connecticut's first needle
exchange program, New Britain has consistently resisted following suit. The
reason can be summed up in a word: Politics.

"This is still a very conservative, very blue-collar kind of town," Mayor
Lucian Pawlak says. "People are very divided on this issue."

Pawlak says the prevailing sentiment is that drugs are mostly a Latino
problem. Other issues, such as revitalizing the city and lowering the tax
rate, are seen as more pressing.

"I know the Hispanic community doesn't like it, but facts are facts," Pawlak
said. "Most of our drug busts involve Latinos. The gangs in our city are
primarily Latin-based."

Until 20 years ago, New Britain was a Polish enclave; most residents had
roots in Eastern Europe. Now, Latinos - primarily Puerto Ricans - make up
nearly 30 percent of the city's 73,000 residents, and the percentage is
climbing.

Hudson Birden, the city's health director, is more interested in stopping
the spread of AIDS than political demographics. He's pushing for a needle
exchange program and says his seven-member board, appointed by the mayor, is
behind him.

At present New Britain's AIDS awareness program is funded strictly with
state and federal money. Birden and Gail Ide, who runs the program, note
that federal funds may not be used for needle exchange programs. They hope
to fund their proposed program with a combination of state and private
money.

Birden says he may ask for as little as $25,000, or even half that. It
depends on the program.

"We could purchase a van and distribute the needles that way, along with
health screening and testing," he said. "Or we could simply have our
outreach workers handle the needle exchange."

New Britain has 280 confirmed AIDS cases, according to state health
officials. Kenneth Carley, an epidemiologist in the state Health Department,
says New Britain's HIV incidence rate is four to five times higher than the
state as a whole.

But New Britain's rate is no higher than other urban areas such as Hartford,
where there are 2,129 confirmed AIDS cases among some 130,000 residents. New
Haven has 1,841 confirmed cases, Bridgeport 979, Stamford 568 and Danbury
221.

"It's a local decision as to whether or not a city has a needle exchange
program," Carley said. "The research indicates that the program is effective
in reducing the risk of HIV by 33 percent a year. It also gets people into
drug treatment."


Checked-by: Rolf Ernst