NEEDLE EXCHANGES

POINT OF CONTROVERSY

Pekin Police Arrest Lifeguard Founder

PEKIN - The Pekin Police Department arrested Iowa resident Elizabeth A. Wehrman
on Wednesday for unlawful possession of a hypodermic needle - but they don't
allege that she abuses illegal drugs.

Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, police received a call regarding suspicious
activity in the parking lot of the old ShopKo store at Court Street and
Barney Lane.

Police reportedly found that Wehrman, 50, of 130 Riverview Lane, Le Claire,
had met with alleged drug addicts in the parking lot so they could exchange
their used, dirty needles for new, clean ones.

She was arrested and released with a notice to appear in court at 1:30 p.m.
March 4.

Wehrman operates a private, non-profit group called Lifeguard Harm
Reduction Services, based in Moline, which she founded in 1997.

Its not just syringe exchange. Harm reduction services are a whole range
of services, from getting people into drug treatment to driving them to get
tested for diseases, as well as syringe exchange,Wehrman said.

Wehrman has devoted about 12 years of her life to her cause of HIV and
hepatitis prevention for drug addicts. Starting as a volunteer for the Quad
Cities AIDS Coalition, she eventually became executive director. The groups
name then changed to AIDS Project - Quad Cities.

Afterwards she spent a few years doing street outreach for the homeless
before founding Lifeguard, she said.

According to Wehrman, Lifeguard aims to helps addicts avoid HIV and
hepatitis infection and to obtain vaccinations. They also try to educate
heroin addicts so they can decrease their chances of overdosing.

Someone who uses drugs may be anywhere on a continuum of using, stopping
using, starting using again,Wehrman said. Lifeguard tries to support
addicts wherever they are on the continuum, until they reach the point of
setting the goal of complete abstinence.

Until they reach that point, they need support to keep them free from AIDS
or hepatitis or to avoid overdosing, she said. In that sense, harm reduction
is a long-term solution, Wehrman said.

Others, including Tony Mills, an intensive outpatient counselor for Ripper
and Associates in East Peoria, don't believe harm reduction is the right
approach to a community's drug addiction problems.

There are a couple schools of thought out there. One school of thought says
(harm reduction) cuts down on the risk of infections and diseases like HIV.

To be effective, such programs need to be run professionally and
systematically - lone individuals or random groups doing needle exchanges
aren't very effective, and can run afoul of the law, Mills said.

"However, in my opinion, its kind of like a short term solution to a long
term problem. In a way I kind of see it as enabling addiction to continue,"
he said.

"Unfortunately with (those suffering from) addiction, harm reduction hasn't
really been proven to work over any period of time," Mills said.

"The only way to recover from addiction is through total abstinence, with
recovering addicts taking it one day at a time over the long term," he said.

Pekin Deputy Chief of Police Ted Miller also says that harm reduction
programs undercut law enforcement efforts against drug abuse.

"I know who all the names are in (Lifeguards) program (in Pekin) they're
the drug dealers here in town," he said.

One reason Miller objects to legal syringe exchange programs is that an
addict could in effect possess a needle filled with a controlled substance,
but police would be prohibited from obtaining the needle to see if it
contained an illegal drug, he said.

The net effect, he said, is that police efforts are hindered.

Carry the logic one step further. If the point is to provide clean needles,
the next logical step is to provide them with safe drugs, Miller said.

According to Miller, addicts have no way to tell what they are injecting
into their bodies, how strong the dose is or what substances the dealer has
used to cut the drug. Each time they shoot up is like playing Russian
roulette.

The logic inherent to harm reduction would lead to the decriminalization of
dangerous drugs, he said.

In any event, the police department believes needle exchange programs are
not a legitimate statutory exemption to the Hypodermic Syringes and Needles
Act and the Drug Paraphernalia Control Act.

Wehrman disagrees with their interpretation of those Illinois statutes. She
points out that the Chicago Recovery Alliance, which coordinates her groups
needle exchanges, participates in many legitimate research projects - and
that the statutes allow researchers doing work involving the use of
hypodermic syringes to have them in their possession.

Tazewell County States Attorney Stewart Umholtz said researchers do have
that exemption, but said he could not render a judgment about Wehrman's
interpretation of the statutes without reading the reports of her arrest and
studying the statutes and relevant case law.

For further information about harm reduction programs, visit the Web sites
http://www.lifeguardonline.org/ or http://www.anypositivechange.org/