PUBLIC FUNDING, PRIVATE ABUSERS

Needle Exchange Programs Stay Under The Official Radar But Rely On State
Support

PEORIA - While local and state health department staff were cautious about
commenting on a needle exchange program that's been operating in the Peoria
area, they say there is a need.

About three months ago, the Peoria City/County Health Department was asked
to fund the program, said spokeswoman Kate Van Beek.

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said he had advised the county
health department against it because the county has so little control over
those who conduct the program and it could have created liability issues.

"It's certainly a needed service in our community," Van Beek said. "We
stand ready to collaborate and refer, but there are some things that have
to be worked out, where it's going to be operated, what the hours are, etc."

Julie Pryde of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District said she has an
agreement with registered nurse Beth Wehrman, who operates Lifeguard Harm
Reduction Services, which is based in Rock Island for 13 counties including
the Greater Peoria area.

Wehrman's $10,000 contract with the state began a year ago, Pryde said,
emphasizing that the state funds only the education and prevention aspect
of Wehrman's work. The state, however, does not fund any needle exchange
program, said Tom Schafer, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Health.

"Handing out a condom is harm reduction," Pryde said, adding that Wehrman's
mission is effective because she combines education with a privately run
needle exchange program.

"I've supervised her working in the Peoria area. The people treat her with
utmost respect, and that is something people don't expect from drug users,"
Pryde said. "That kind of relationship takes time."

Some may argue that Wehrman's outfit provides too much information. For
example, a link from the Lifeguard Web site provides 23 illustrated
step-by-step instructions for injecting drugs.

Wehrman receives the hypodermic syringes and other supplies from the
Chicago Recovery Alliance, the second-largest syringe exchange program in
the country. The alliance, funded by the Chicago Department of Health and
the American Foundation for AIDS Research, runs a public health research
program in conjunction with the University of Illinois.

In exchange, she provides data used for research conducted at various
institutions such as Yale and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

"Although we assist Beth with both materials and research capacity, we do
not give her cash. All such funding she obtains is on her own," said Dan
Bigg, director of the alliance.

A Rising Need

Wehrman said she realizes some people regard her work as enabling drug
users to continue their illegal habit, but she looks at things differently.

"It's a controversial issue, but think about the consequences of people not
using clean needles," Wehrman said. "The danger (comes) from anything that
may be shared - the cotton, the containers used to mix drugs, the swab cloths."

Wehrman said few participants in her program turn over dirty needles for
fear of being arrested while carrying syringes with drug residue. So
they're pitched out of windows, flushed into sewers or simply tossed in the
trash.

Or, people reuse the old needles and share them with others. If it weren't
for her service, Wehrman says, some people would be sharpening needles on
the edges of sidewalks and re-using them as often as 20 to 50 times - a
hazardous practice that spreads disease.

Wehrman, a registered nurse, a mother of four and a grandmother of three,
says her work helps people like her paramedic husband be safer at work by
reducing the number of disease-ridden needles out there.

The link between the number of injection drug users who use infected
hypodermic syringes and other drug paraphernalia has led to the increase in
people affected by AIDS and other blood-borne diseases.

"We have been tracking the disease on a daily basis for 15 years and
developing programs for those who get the disease," Schafer said. AIDS used
to be "a gay, white male disease," he said. "But now more people of color
are getting it."

Since 1981, 26,000 Illinoisans have been diagnosed with AIDS. Of those,
more than 15,000, or 59 percent, have died. An estimated 28,000 to 38,000
people in Illinois are HIV infected.

The high figures appear to be characteristic of cities with high population
densities, Schafer said. The majority of the cases involve the minority
populations, Schafer said.

Closer to home, eight people in Peoria were diagnosed with AIDS last year
and another 14 were HIV positive, said Hla Phone, an epidemiologist with
the Peoria health department.