Split council OKs free needles; AIDS target of program
By Alan Sni
Denver Post Staff Writer

Shannon Behning realizes a controversial needleexchange program approved
83 by the Denver CIty Council on Monday night can't save her life.

But the Denver woman, who got AIDS through unprotected sex with a man she
didn't know was an intravenous drug user, hopes it will stop other people
from being infected with HIV.

"I'm fighting the fight of my life, which may have been prevented by a
needle program," the 33yearold woman told the city council.

Council members grappled with the thorny publichealth issue for two hours
before voting to endorse the needle exchange program, which can go into
effect only with the authorization from the state Legislature. Members Susan
BarnesGelt, Ted Hackworth and Ed Thomas dissented.

The council majority admitted that handing over a clean needle to a drug
addict may seem distasteful and is not a panacea for a complicated problem.
But they said the needle program deserves a try.

"It won't end the HIV crisis," Councilwoman Susan Casey said. "But it's one
more piece of the puzzle, one part of the solution."

Thomas, a former Denver police officer and the program's most outspoken
critic, thought otherwise. "We're taking a giant leap of faith with people
involved in heroin and injection devices. There's not absolute proof that a
needle exchange program...is successful."

Changing his position, Mayor Wellington Webb proposed amending the municipal
code to allow up to three programs for needle exchange and treatment
referrals because he is concerned about the growing number of children
infected with HIV through their mothers.

Local officials, including Denver Environmental Health Manager Teresa
Donahue and Denver Health Chief Patricia Gabow, argued that giving out
needles will decrease the spread of AIDS and other bloodborne diseases and
provide health care providers access to people who need help the most.

"It's a tool that will help us fight this disease. It stops the transmission
of AIDS," Denver resident Jean Finn said. "It does not increase drug use."

But Denver police officer Kirk Miller, a board member of the 1,280member
Police Protective Association, said giving a needle to an addict is like
giving a drink to an alcoholic.

"If you have drug users coming in from all over the city, that has to cause
a problem for those neighborhoods," Miller said. "It just doesn't make
sense. Let's do some outreach and education first before we give a drug user
the equipment to commit a felony."

BIll Claus of Denver added: "What kind of message are we giving? We're
giving needles because we're throwing in the towel."

BarnesGelt questioned whether free needles actually reduce the spread of
AIDS and wondered how the program would lure drug addicts for treatment when
syringes are readily available in stores. "There's so much ambiguity around
these figures," she said.

But Ed Casper, the Denver Health Department's director of alcohol, drugs and
psychiatric treatment, said the program is a viable vehicle to help an
addict who "one day wants treatment and may want to stop."

BarnesGelt suggested that the city consider a pilot program only if the
Legislature amends drug paraphernalia laws, an effort expected to be
proposed in the 1998 session.

Under Webb's plan, the city's department of environmental health would
register, inspect and monitor the programs. Denver would become the nation's
76th city to have such a program.

"This is a public health issue," Councilwoman Happy Haynes said. "The goal
is to decrease the spread of infectious and deadly diseases. I see no
evidence that it will increase drug use."

The needle exchange would be subject to a review Dec. 31, 2001. Nationally,
17 percent of AIDS cases were attributed to intravenous drug use in 1986. In
1991, it was 7.5 percent and it increased to 10.5 percent in 1996.

There are an estimated 7,000 intravenous drug users in Denver, including
many who don't practice safe sex or don't adequately clean their syringes.

"That's why I chose to speak out," Behning said. "Maybe it will save someone
else's life."