NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAMS PREVENT THE SPREAD OF AIDS

In a state in which more than 7,000 people with HIV/AIDS have died,
it seems as if people should be working nonstop to figure out how to
stem its spread.

One proven illness-prevention measure - needle exchange - is ready
and waiting to be implemented in North Carolina, but only if the
state's politicians will fund it.

House Bill 411 would set aside $550,000 to establish three clean-
syringe exchange programs. A similar bill died in committee last
year, but now advocates of the bill are hoping to get Gov. Mike
Easley's support to help it pass.

The usual argument against needle exchange - in which used, dirty
needles and syringes can be exchanged for clean ones - is that it
encourages drug use.

But studies have shown again and again that that's just not the case.

Users have to turn in a dirty needle to get a fresh one, so it's not
as if the programs serve simply as a supplier.

Instead, needle-exchange programs have been shown to cut HIV
transmission rates among injecting drug users by up to one-third.

About 36 percent of HIV/AIDS infections can be attributed to the use
of injected drugs, so needle-exchange programs have the potential to
reduce new infections by more than 10 percent.

An additional boon of having drug users come to a central location to
get new needles is that it would be possible to educate them about
risk for infectious diseases so they'd be less likely to get infected
in the future.

The economic advantages of needle exchange also should not be
overlooked. A new syringe costs less than a small coffee, so the
median amount necessary to fund an exchange program ends up being
$170,000 per year. The lifetime cost of treating someone living with
HIV/AIDS is about $200,000.

In other words, all a program has to do to break even is prevent one
new infection per year.

In the name of physical and fiscal health, North Carolina needs to
exchange old thinking for saving lives.