POINTLESS CRITICISM

The County's Needle-Exchange Program Works

Prevention Point Pittsburgh's weekly needle exchange has drawn fire
from a member of County Council. But the program, which benefits the
public as well as drug users, should continue.

Allegheny County Councilman Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, wants the
privately funded, 4-year-old program -- which gives drug users clean
needles and syringes to stem the spread of HIV and hepatitis C --
reviewed until he's certain it's legal and effective. Some even
believe such programs encourage drug abuse.

The program isn't illegal. The state law that prohibits the
possession of drug paraphernalia without a prescription can be
superseded if a county health department or health board declares a
needle-exchange program necessary due to a public health emergency.
Allegheny County's Board of Health did just that, as did then
Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell more than 10 years ago, when Prevention
Point Philadelphia started its exchange program.

Conventional wisdom, studies and similar programs nationwide have
indicated that such exchanges slow the spread of HIV and hepatitis,
but by exactly how much is difficult to prove.

Effectiveness doesn't necessarily mean fewer reported cases of HIV
and hepatitis C from one year to the next. It could mean there are
only 20 more cases, for instance, this year than last rather than the
200 more there would have been had there not been a program.

Lastly, drug abusers say eliminating their access to clean needles
and syringes won't curtail their drug use. One 72-year-old heroin
user even credits his access to clean needles as the reason he has
been free of HIV and hepatitis C since starting to use the drug in the 1960s.

Ending the program likely will force people grappling with addiction
- -- those who already have a history of poor decision making where
their health is concerned -- to make another poor and potentially
deadly choice to use dirty needles.

What's the harm in allowing a privately funded needle-exchange
program to continue? Taxpayers aren't paying for it now, but they
might pay later with an overall increased threat to the public health
and staggering costs to treat those sick with and dying from diseases
they may not have contracted otherwise.

Allegheny County Council should draft an ordinance giving the program
its blessing or, better yet, state legislators should clarify state
law specifically to allow needle-exchange programs.