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The state plans to end Willimantic's needle exchange
program March 21, capping months of debate that started
when a toddler was pricked during the summer by a discarded
needle. In letters delivered Monday to town and regional
health service officials, state Public Health Commissioner
Stephen A. Harriman said Gov. John G. Rowland has
reluctantly approved the cutoff.

The governor agreed with Harriman's opinion that the
needle exchange program cannot survive without the
community's support.

Both officials urge area leaders to strengthen other
eastern Connecticut AIDSprevention services to fill the
void, Harriman's letters say.

The program is run by the Windham Regional Community
Council. It had 308 registered clients as of January,
council Executive Director Jeffrey Beadle said Monday.

The agency plans to continue to distribute
AIDSprevention information and condoms, and to refer drug
users to treatment programs, he said.

The community council gets about $50,000 a year from the
state to run the exchange program. It allows a onetoone
swap of used needles for new needles plus bleach and
alcohol wipes, condoms and information on AIDS prevention.
No alternative has been developed yet.

The needle exchange program has been the topic of
emotional debate since a 2yearold Willimantic girl found
a discarded needle on the sidewalk near her home in July.
More than 400 used needles were discovered throughout the
community in the following weeks.

"Many of us, myself included, feel that the program's
concept is good. But there were problems in Willimantic
that weren't addressed, and it simply was not welcomed
here," state Rep. John Lescoe, D Windham, said Monday.

Lescoe and state Sen. Donald Williams Jr., DThompson,
introduced a bill last year to eliminate the town program.
But now that the state has approved the cutoff, their bill
is no longer necessary, Lescoe said.

Responding to community furor, the board of selectmen
voted 74 last year to ask the state to end the exchange
program in Willimantic.

First Selectman Walter Pawelkiewicz, one of the four
officials who wanted to retain the program, said Monday it
is time to put the issue to rest. "With or without the
program, there will still be discarded syringes. That's the
irony," he said. "But at least we can move on to other
things and let the professionals work out the best way to
deliver the appropriate services."

Pawelkiewicz said he plans to ask the North Central
Health District to help coordinate an areawide AIDS
services referral system.

Under state law, pharmacies can sell up to 10 needles
per person over the counter without a prescription. But
the sales are not mandated and only one or two
pharmacies in the area still participate, Beadle said.

There also are few transportation options for drug users
who want to buy new needles at pharmacies in other regions,
he said. Beadle said he is afraid that the result of
eliminating the Willimantic program will be more shared
needles, a major culprit in the spread of AIDS.

"There will be virtually no outlets for them to purchase
syringes, even though they're legal," Beadle said. "We're
just very disappointed that this couldn't have been worked
out in some other way."