BEXAR NEEDLE PROGRAM SHOULD STICK STATEWIDE

Bexar became the first county in Texas to have a needle exchange
program, but it shouldn't be the last.

Needle exchange programs prevent the spread of diseases such as
HIV/AIDS by replacing dirty needles with clean ones. The programs
follow a simple public health premise: If an object spreads a disease,
remove the object from circulation. Doing so saves money and lives.

Needle-related drug use accounts for one-fifth of all new HIV/AIDS
infections. Each new infection costs taxpayers $385,000 over a
patient's life.

Senate Bill 10, the legislation that allowed for the creation of the
program, is a compromise measure limited to Bexar County. If a needle
exchange program were to be implemented statewide, the program would
prevent between 199 and 428 HIV infections in Bexar, Dallas, El Paso,
Harris, Tarrant and Travis counties by 2020, according to Peter Lurie,
the deputy director for Public Citizen's Health Research Group. The
federal government will even pay for the program's implementation locally.

Critics, such as State Rep. Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, say the
program may promote drug use. Even the most conservative anti-drug
groups, however, have yet to produce substantial evidence showing that
such programs increase drug use.

Delisi is the chairwoman of the House Public Health Committee and has
repeatedly used her position to undermine needle exchange legislation.
State Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville and a physician, sponsored a bill
setting up a needle exchange program statewide that Delisi killed in
the House. Deuell believes needle exchange programs should be judged
on their public health merits, not their political ones.

Deuell was quoted in the April issue of Texas Monthly as saying, "Some
people say, 'Punish them. Let them suffer. Let them die.' I look at it
from a Christian viewpoint: What would Jesus do? We need to show
compassion and try to help. They are God's children too. When they
need new needles, this puts them in touch with someone who might reach
them. [ ... ] Do I wish we didn't have to do things like this?
Absolutely. I'm a conservative Republican. I don't like drug use, but
reality is reality. Some people are going to use drugs."

After Deuell's bill died in the Senate, most assumed that the
Legislature would go another session without passing needle exchange
legislation. The Bexar needle exchange program was born of a
bipartisan effort to salvage something from the statewide bill Delisi
strangled in committee.

Delisi threatened to table the compromise bill but relented in the
face of intense pressure from fellow legislators. The compromise falls
woefully short in supporting needle exchange programs but is better
than nothing.

If the Bexar County pilot program is successful, there is a good
chance legislation including other counties will be introduced during
the 2009 session.

That's reason enough to root for the program's success.