MANY NEEDLES COME FROM HIV ALLIANCE EXCHANGE

Without a doubt, a good percentage of needles picked up by HIV
Alliance volunteer cleanup patrols were originally provided to drug
users through the agency's needle exchange program.

The Eugene-based organization distributed 540,000 needles to
injection drug users last year, program coordinator Forest Headley said.

Drug users gave back about 98 percent of those needles -
approximately 530,000 - as part of the ongoing exchange.

That's an impressive return rate, but it means that 10,000 used
needles furnished by the HIV Alliance never found their way back to
the agency. advertisement

Headley, who participates in cleanup patrols, estimates that as many
as half of the dirty needles found by volunteer crews throughout the
Eugene-Springfield area could have been doled out by the HIV Alliance.

"About half of them are the same brand," he said. "Some of them
obviously are from us. But we find all different sizes and brands
that people buy."

Drug users who don't obtain needles through free exchange programs
can purchase them at a handful of local pharmacies, which in Oregon
can legally sell to anyone older than 18.

Per-needle costs vary from as little as about 50 cents to as much as
$2, Headley said.

Many of Lane County's estimated 10,000 intravenous-drug addicts need
to shoot methamphetamine or heroin several times a day to avoid
withdrawal symptoms.

Headley estimates that about two-thirds of drug users who utilize his
agency's exchange program abuse methamphetamine.

Needle exchange programs are common nationwide and in other developed
countries.

Their main goal is to prevent drug users from sharing needles. Shared
needles play a major role in spreading HIV and other blood-borne diseases.

Contracting an infection from a dirty needle "is something that's 100
percent preventable," Headley said.

During needle exchanges, Headley and other HIV Alliance volunteers
offer drug users referrals to detox and treatment programs, reminding
addicts that the main way to avoid the dangers of narcotics is to
abstain from using them.