SUPERVISORS OK NEEDLE PROGRAMS TO HELP REDUCE SPREAD OF DISEASES

Note: Link to county staff report on needle exchange proposal (PDF)
included in article.

One Plan Would Allow People To Exchange Up To 30 Syringes A Week

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously
Tuesday to create two needle exchange programs that public health
officials say will reduce the sharing of dirty needles among drug
users, thereby reducing the spread of disease.

Supervisor Jerry Lenthall, a retired police sergeant, supported both
programs with mixed emotions.

"I want to emphasize that this goes against what law enforcement
stands for," he said before asking the board to vote on the
implementation of the needle exchange programs.

Public health officials said they believe a needle exchange program
will reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C by reducing needle
sharing. Law enforcement worried that such programs could promote use.

In March, the supervisors asked law enforcement and public health
officials to compromise and create a needle exchange program that
satisfied both sides.

The compromised policy involves two programs. One will allow
participating pharmacies to sell up to 10 new syringes for every
dirty needle a person brings in to discard. The other is a needle
exchange program that will allow people to exchange up to 30 needles
a week at sites located in San Miguel and San Luis Obispo.

Each year, the supervisors will review the policy and data collected
on the number of people stuck by discarded needles in public places,
dirty needles found and drug-related service calls.

The community-based organization Gatehelp Inc., which agreed to
operate the syringe exchange program, must pay for the syringes. If
it cannot raise the money, the program will not operate.

More than 28 percent of the 300 to 500 HIV cases in San Luis Obispo
County were attributed to injection drug use, according public health records.

Statewide, 13 counties have needle exchange programs and 14 have
nonprescription syringe access at pharmacies, said Alessandra Ross
from the California Department of Health Services Office of AIDS.

Ross encouraged the supervisors to adopt a needle exchange program to
help reduce the spread of disease.

"Syringe access is not medically or scientifically controversial," she said.

The programs are proven to reduce needle sharing and do not increase
crime, litter or drug use, Ross said.

Rodger Anderson of Morro Bay, a member of the county's Drug and
Alcohol Advisory Board, spoke in favor of a needle exchange program.

"It's very important that the public understand that needle exchange
is not promoting injection drug use, it's about controlling the
spread of disease," he said.

Pharmacy participation is voluntary, and so far Dana Nelson of Health
Plus Pharmacy in San Luis Obispo is the only one interested.

"I've always felt that the pharmacy is supposed to be an advocate for
public health, and I see dirty needles as a vector for disease," Nelson said.