OAKLAND TRIBUN 8/29/91 5 A~1 By Robert J. Lopez law the sale or possession of hy- Needle debate: Should exchange be legal? Tribeme Gisff Writer BERKELEY — Less than three minutes after the two AIDS activists unload their baby stroller and paper bags contain- ing hypodermic needles, the first “client” of the weekly needie-ex- change program arrives. “Give me two,” says the heav- yset woman, dropping two dirty needles into the red bio-hazard container hidden in the stroller. Scott Halem and Charles Ries — members of Berkeley's Nee- dle Exchange Ernergency Dis- tribution (NEED) — quickly hand the woman a bag contain- ing two needles, a tiny bottle of bleach, alcohol swabs and con- doms. She scurries away as sev- eral other clients appear at the West Berkeley street corner. In the Eastbay and elsewhere in the nation, debate is growing over whether to legalize needie- exchange programs. Eleven states, including California, out- By Danial d. serphy/Oskiang frivane Old needles are deposited in a container bidden in a baby carriage. podermic needles without a pre- scription. But proponents, such as NEED members, say they have a mora! obligation to save lives and will continue to ex- change needles to help curb the growing incidence of AIDS among intravenous drug addicts ia even if it means breaking the aw. Halem, 44, is scheduled to be tried Tuesday in Berkeley-Al- bany Municipal Court on a mis- demeanor charge of distributing hypodermic needles. He Was cited by Berkeley po- lice July 3 as NEED members exchanged needies at the same corner where they have worked every Thursday for the past 10 months. The group says it ex- changes between 350 and 400 needles for 30 to 40 clients dur- See NEEDLES, Page A-13 Support from lawmakers, A-3 OAKLAND TRIBUNE Needles Coatigued from Page A-i dng each two-hour session. ’ “I m not a iawbreaker,” Halem said. “ *m just 3 beattn worker out to stop the spread of this infectlous disease,” Supporters of needle exchanges argue that such programs heip curb the spread of AIDS by ridding the streets of dirty needles, a primary “means by which the AlDS-causing HIV virus is @ansmiited. " , They aiso say needle exchanges serve as a bridge between treatment facilities and the hard. relma high-risk intravenous drug-use popula- 4 , Opponents say there is no clear medical evie dence supporting the claims that needle exchanges help prevent AIDS. They also say such programs send & message that drug use is OK, But advocates say such attitudes ground the country are beginning to change, “We've seen a notable interest in reviewing the issue from a number of people and organiza- tions.” said Tom Brandt, spokesman for the influ- ential National Commussion on AIDS. Earlier this month, the commuasion for the first time came out in support of legalizing needie exchanges In a 1$-page report on substance abuse and HIV transrmussion, the commission said, “It is imperative that we remove these legal barriers so that the transmission of HIV can be lessened for ‘hose who cannot stop injecting drugs." The report was made public one week after researchers at Yale University released the find- ings of an eight-month study on a needie-exchange program in New Haven, Coan. “4 The novel study tracked number-coded syr- Inges and used mathematical models to estimate that the HIV infection rate fell by 33 percent among intravenous addicts. a Locally, the Alameda County AIDS Advisory adopted a resolution July 31 in support of a pilot program to assess the effectiveness of needie exchange programs. The resolution came after nearly a year of debate. ' Board Chairman Steve Graham said a local pilot program is needed to determine {f needle exchanges help curb AIDS. Graham, like Brandt of the National AIDS Commission, says that attitudes around the country are becoming more favorable toward the programs — expecially as the spread of AIDS continues. “The chorus is getting greater, and more peo- ple are dying,” Grahern said. ’ ' Within a week of the commission's report, a host of major news organizations — including The Washington Post, New York Newsday and USA Today — published editorials supporting the com- mission's findings. As of May 3! in Alameda County, 983 people had died of AIDS since 1981, according to statistics compiled by the county Kealth Services Agency. The number of adults in the county who have contracted AIDS frem Intravenous drug use has grown from five in i985 Lo 44 in 1990, according to the statistics. Na nee Total camber oi reported adutl AIDS cuses steocinted with Gnug we YEAR ALAMEDA COUNTY WATIONWIDE® | 1988 5 2,100 1986 2 2,800 1987 2 5,900 1988 48 10,100 1989 $6 10,500 1990 44 12,900 * » Figures are snorndmate Source: Alameda County Health Care Servicas Agency, Centers Sor Disease Control - The later figure represents 70 percent of the reported AIDS cases in the county. Nationwide, the number of adults who have contracted AIDS from intravenous drug use has climbed from about 2,000 cases in 1985 to nearly 14,000 In 1990, according to staustics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control. In tts resolution, the AIDS Advisory Board recommends that the county lobby the state Legis. lature to make a change in state law to allow a pilot program in Berkeley and Oakland. The board will seek the help of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the city councus of Berkeley and However, the county's Health Services Agen- cy remains steadfast in its opposition of needle e “We are not going to actively advocate needle exchange," Director of Public Health Yolanda Baldevinos said yesterday. “The concern |s that we're giving a double message — that it's OK to use needies and use drugs,” Member's of Oaklana’'s black community also have attacked needle exchanges as racist. They complain that such programs are commoaly run by white people working with a predominantly white intravenous drug addict population, said the Rev. Yvette Flunder, c n of the Oakland- African American AIDS Coalition. However, the coalition recently came out in Support of a pilot needle-exchange program be- pause it could also serve the iocal black communi- ye “We need to find out if this is reaily going to work for us,” Flunder said. As for Tuesday's trial, Halem will plead inno- cent based on the rare defense of necessity, said his attorney, Bil Simpich of Oakland. The same defense was argued by Simpich on behalf of a cilent last April in a much-publicized case in Red- wood City. An 11-person jury there refused to convict two AIDS activists who said they were forced t act in good faith to avoid a greater harm — the spread of AIDS. That trial was the first one in the nation in which a jury heard a needle-exchange case. HaJ- ems will be the second. CNRS NSESENGONNNNS