HIV ALLIANCE APPEALS TO SAVE NEEDLE EXCHANGE

HIV Alliance plans to eliminate funding for its successful needle-exchange
program by the end of the year. Among the results could be more disease
spread among addicts and more dirty needles littering the city.

The alliance will ask local government, medical and charitable institutions
to save the exchange.

"What we've been doing is great, but it goes way beyond our mission," said
Diane Lang, executive director of the Eugene-based nonprofit agency. "Our
mission is to stop HIV, not to control health care costs and side effects
of drug abuse in our community."

Since 1999, HIV Alliance staffers have hit the streets and parks of Eugene
several times a week, handing out clean hypodermic needles to drug addicts
in exchange for dirty ones.

It's not glamorous work but it helps prevent the spread of disease, and it
reduces the number of discarded, dirty needles because addicts must turn
over their old needles to get new ones. It also puts addicts in touch with
people who can help when they're ready to quit.

Addicts who use the program are less likely to share needles, reducing the
spread of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, and less likely to reuse
dull, dirty needles that can cause nasty infections that can lead to costly
hospital visits.

Leaders of the cash-strapped agency had to cut 10 percent of its $840,000
budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, and rather than make
across-the-board cuts, executives and board members made the difficult
decision to cut what may be its most effective program.

"This is painful because this program is so critical to preventing HIV in
this area," board member Betsy Smith said.

HIV Alliance spent $145,000 in the current fiscal year for a program that
agency officials say provides incalculable communitywide public health
benefits.

The cost for hospitalizing and treating an addict with an infected abscess
- - caused by reusing dirty needles - can cost from $35,000 to $100,000, Lang
said. To treat a single case of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - costs
$150,000 to $195,000.

The HIV Alliance board decided Thursday to fund the program through the end
of the year, and use that time to seek support from civic, community and
health leaders to continue the program. The agency will continue to staff
the program if others pick up the cost of supplies, Lang said.

The bulk of outside funding currently comes from PeaceHealth, parent
corporation of Sacred Heart Medical Center, which provides materials and
supplies and disposal of dirty needles valued at more than $25,000 a year,
and United Way, which contributes $13,000.

HIV Alliance wants to bring in additional partners, including the cities of
Eugene and Springfield, Lane County, and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.

While continuing the program for the next six months, the agency is cutting
back on the supplies that it provides to addicts in addition to clean needles.

No longer will addicts get first-aid supplies, such as gauze and
antibacterial ointment; safer injection supplies such as alcohol wipes,
tourniquets, clean water and bleach; different size needles and sharps
containers; and condoms and lube. Instead, they'll get one size needle and
one size sharps container.

The HIV Alliance program - the largest in Oregon - exchanges about 52,000
needles every month, reaching about 30 percent of Lane County's 10,000
injection drug users through direct exchanges and another 45 percent
through indirect exchanges, Lang said.

The idea behind the program is known as harm reduction: Encouraging addicts
to make incremental steps toward safer behavior, and building trust so when
they're ready to quit, they know where to turn for help.

"We recognize the fact that not every person is ready or able to quit using
drugs at any given time," said Sharon Chamberlain, the agency's injection
drug use outreach director.

"Our point is we would like to keep them safe so when that time comes for
them, they can access detox or drug rehab without the extra burden of
having HIV or Hepatitis C."

Agency officials say the program has succeeded in changing addicts'
attitudes and behavior, where sharing needles is not acceptable.

"It's no longer the norm in Eugene to share needles," Lang said.