CLALLAM SYRINGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM TO EXPAND TO FORKS

PORT ANGELES - You don't want to be stuck by a used syringe, but you don't
want to be stuck with one, either.

Clallam County health officials offer this sharp solution:

If you use syringes to control diabetes, allergies or other medical
symptoms, deposit them in an empty 2-liter soft drink bottle.

When it's full, toss it out with your other trash.

Clallam County commissioners Monday considered another way to dispose of
needles:

Syringe exchanges that are in place in Port Angeles and next month could
open in Forks.

Health and Human Services Director Iva Burks told commissioners that the
program already receives 1,300 to 1,500 used syringes from drug abusers
each week.

The exchange runs from 6 to 8 p.m. each Tuesday at Family Planning of
Clallam County, 1106 E. First St.

It purposely is located away from the Clallam County Courthouse so addicts
needn't confront sheriff's deputies, Burks said.

The exchange, plus HIV/AIDS testing, are anonymous and confidential.

Exchange Expanding

The Forks exchange, co-sponsored by the Quileute tribe in nearby LaPush,
will open from 3 to 5 p.m. each Tuesday in the county health office at 140
W. C St.

"We're still in the final training stages," Christina Hurst, public health
programs manager, said Monday.

"We're training the staff now in Forks. We have quite a bit of supplies for
them."

In Port Angeles, one drug user may bring in hundreds of used syringes,
usually on behalf of multiple addicts.

Burks said some of those people live in the West End.

Having drug abusers exchange their needles in person, she said, gives her
department a chance to immunize them for tetanus and hepatitis.

A few, she said, sign up for rehabilitation even though staff members don't
push such programs.

The Forks exchange could open as soon as Nov. 1 but probably no later than
next Jan. 1, Burks said.

Fewer Needles By Roads

Commissioner Mike Chapman praised the program for accepting "syringes that
aren't making their way into the parks and ditches and trash containers."

Burks confirmed that the number of needles that pose public health threats
is declining.

"The sheriff's chain gang [that picks up roadside litter] is not finding
many now," she said.

Before the program started in 2000, she said, the work parties of jail
inmates found hundreds of used needles.

"The public health advantage to this is very clear," said Commissioner
Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness.

Tharinger is running for re-election against Bob Forde, a Republican who
identifies methamphetamine addiction as the county's largest single problem.

As for the safe disposal of medicinal syringes in soft-drink bottles, the
health department offers free brochures explaining the procedure, plus
peel-off warning labels for the 2-liter containers.

Tips For Disposal

The brochures offer these other tips:

- - Keep the disposal container out of the reach of children and pets.

- - Never flush syringes down the toilet.

- - Don't fill the bottle all the way to the top but allow 2 to 3 inches
between the needles and the neck of the container.

- - Tightly cap and tape the bottle closed before taking it to the Regional
Transfer Station, 3501 W. 18th St., or putting it into your household trash.

The syringe exchanges are part of a $53,191 program of HIV/AIDS services
that commissioners will approve formally on Oct. 30.

For details on the exchanges, contact the county public health office,
360-417-2274.

For more information on HIV testing and other public health services, visit
http://www.clallam.net/healthservices.