THE NEEDLE-EXCHANGE PROGRAM: THIS IS 'SUCCESS'?

The privately funded needle-exchange program of Prevention Point
Pittsburgh, operating out of the Allegheny County Health Department in
Oakland since 2002, is more track marks than track record.

If intravenous drug users trade their used needles for new ones it
supposedly prevents the spread of hepatitis C and the HIV virus.
Program supporters were as passionate as opponents after the Health
Department declared an HIV and hepatitis C public health emergency
among intravenous drug users in 2001.

After four years, the facts speak for themselves:

. There were 149 confirmed cases of hepatitis C in
2002

. 298 cases in 2003

. 211 in 2004

. In 2005, there were 393

. During that period there were about 100 HIV cases annually in the
county.

Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the health department, has looked at
reports and studies touting the benefits of the needle-exchange
program. "I am not a strong believer in this," said the always candid
Dr. Dixon.

And since determining when the hepatitis C infection occurred is
difficult, quantifying the program's effectiveness is nearly
impossible. Even Dr. Dixon could not draw any conclusions about the
worth of the exchange in the 2004 interim report.

When the Allegheny County Health Department board meets on May 3, it
must evict the needle pushers who turned the Health Department space
into little more than a head shop for the junkies' shooting gallery.