CATHOLIC CHARITIES TO GIVE SYRINGES TO DRUG USERS

Church Agency's Needle Exchange Aims to Cut Disease Risk

ALBANY-- After 20 years of alleviating suffering for people touched
by AIDS, Catholic Charities will take one of its boldest steps yet on
Monday: passing out free syringes to IV drug users in two urban
neighborhoods to prevent the spread of the disease.

Anticipating criticism, the social services agency of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Albany spent five years planning and vetting the
needle exchange program, which received approval from its trustees
and board chairman, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard.

"I understand there will be questions, but this is common sense,"
said Sister Maureen Joyce, CEO of Catholic Charities. "I strongly
believe in this. It will save lives."

Organizers have met with neighborhood associations, drug users,
police, prosecutors and AIDS activists. The program, called Project
Safe Point, is supported by Albany County District Attorney David
Soares, the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York and local public
health officials.

The anonymity of those who use the free service will be maintained.

It is expected to reduce rates of HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS
- -- hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases among people who use
injection drugs. There is also an economic argument, since it costs
an estimated $650,000 to treat an HIV-infected person throughout
their lifetime.

An $83,000 custom van will be stocked with syringes and other medical
supplies intended to reduce the risk of infection spread by sharing
contaminated needles and unsanitary injection methods.

The van will be parked in the city's South End and Arbor Hill
neighborhoods, closest to where police believe injection drug use is
most prevalent.

Project Safe Point is based on 17 similar needle exchange programs in
cities across the state, including Binghamton, Ithaca, Rochester,
Buffalo and New York City. It will be a first for the Capital Region
and is believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation
sponsored by Catholic Charities.

According to state Health Department studies, 50 percent of new AIDS
cases were due to IV drug use in 1990. By 2004, after needle exchange
programs were introduced, that statistic had dropped to 7 percent of
new AIDS cases due to IV drug use.

"This is a proven method used around the country, but there has been
a huge gap in this area that nobody was stepping up to fill," said
Angela Keller, executive director of AIDS services for Catholic
Charities. She came to the agency after working five years at the AIDS Council.

The annual budget for staff and supplies for the program is $170,000,
primarily from state funding sources. None of the money comes from
the financially strapped diocese, which has been forced to close and
consolidate several Catholic parishes in recent years.

Joyce said the needle exchange program is in keeping with the stated
mission of Catholic Charities and its call to "respect people of all
races, creeds and lifestyles" and to serve the poor and vulnerable.
She has long been in the forefront of the battle against AIDS and the
stigma associated with it.

In 1988, despite opposition from a local community misinformed and
fearful of AIDS, then a relatively little-known disease, Joyce opened
the Farano Center in a house in Pine Hills. The facility, staffed by
Catholic Charities' staff and volunteers, opened to care for orphaned
HIV-infected babies, often abandoned at New York City hospitals by
drug-addicted mothers.

"From a theological standpoint, we're not being faithful to our
mission if we don't reach out to people addicted to drugs, too," Joyce said.

Heroin addicts and IV drug users who shoot cocaine and inject
"cooked" or liquefied forms of prescription drugs and crystal meth
are shunned even in communities where crime, violence and substance
abuse are commonplace. These addicts exist in the shadows, shooting
drugs together in abandoned buildings and vacant lots out of sight of
passersby and police.

"This is an invisible population and we hope to bring them out of the
shadows and give them the supplies and information they need to be as
clean as possible for each use if they choose to continue injecting
drugs," Keller said.

After the drug users develop a rapport with trained staff members
Patrick Toye and Keith Brown, who will operate the van, it is hoped
they will be more open to receiving information on health safety,
including treatment options.

Brown previously worked for 10 years in Buffalo for an agency that
ran a syringe exchange program. He said it has operated successfully
for many years with the backing of law enforcement.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, studies in cities across the U.S.
have shown no increase in crime or drug use in the needle distribution areas.

Soares has backed the plan and said he hopes it will "improve the
quality of life for residents in our communities" as well as increase
safety for law enforcement personnel who face the possibility of
getting stuck with a contaminated needle in the line of duty. Soares
said he is confident that the Albany program, in keeping with others
around the country, will include "access to testing, treatment,
referral and education" with the potential of a long-term reduction
of IV drug use in Albany County.

Dr. James Crucetti, commissioner of the Albany County Department of
Health, said the program could be of "considerable benefit to our
community" from a public health perspective.

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AT A GLANCE

The free, anonymous needle exchange program will begin Monday in a
white, unmarked van at two locations as in Albany:

South End. Corner of Dongan Avenue and Bassett Street. 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Arbor Hill. Corner of North Swan Street and Ten Broeck Place. Noon to
3 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.

For information, call Catholic Charities AIDS Services at 449-3581 or
go to http://www.ccaidsalbany.org.