ACTIVIST VOWS NEEDLE EXCHANGE, LAW OR NO LAW

PEERS Director Asks Webb, Ritter To Defy State Ban On Paraphernalia

A health official threatened on Tuesday to engage in civil disobedience if
Denver leaders don't back an illegal needle-exchange program.

Paul Simons called on Mayor Wellington Webb and Denver District Attorney
Bill Ritter to defy state law a day after a House committee killed a bill
that would allow intravenous drug users to trade dirty needles for clean
ones.

"One way or another, we _will_ have a needle-exchange program by the end of
the year," said Simons, executive director of PEERS, a nonprofit group that
promotes HIV prevention.

"If we can't do it through quiet, rational dialogue, then we will do it
through civil disobedience."

Ritter testified in favor of the bill but said he could not support an
illegal program.

"The way I view my obligation as a prosecutor, I have to enforce the law,"
Ritter said. "I can't select only the ones that I like."

City Councilman Ed Thomas, an opponent of exchange programs, said he'll
fight Simons' proposal.

"We are not in the business of breaking the law," the councilman said.

Thomas and other opponents argue the bill would have condoned drug use and
undermined law enforcement

Supporters say the bill lawmakers killed Monday would have reduced the
spread of AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases.

It would have allowed communities to operate needle-exchange programs by
eliminating a state law that makes possession of needles illegal.

In 1989, Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter agreed to not prosecute
participants in a needle-exchange program. Simons will ask Webb and Ritter
to follow Boulder's lead.

"They're doing such a good job of law enforcement in Boulder," Thomas said
sarcastically. "No thanks."

Simons vowed there would be consequences, however, if a needle exchange is
not condoned.

"If we cannot come up with an agreement with the mayor and the DA, then we
will engage in civil disobedience," Simons said.

He said other participants would include PEERS employees and Colorado AIDS
activists, "although this would not be an official position of PEERS."

Webb supported the bill but would not back an illegal network without
Ritter's approval, mayoral spokesman Andrew Hudson said. "If the district
attorney were to take another position, we would consider our options."