HIV Alliance appeals to save needle exchange.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

HIV Alliance plans to eliminate funding for its successful needle-exchange program by the end of the year. Among the results could be more disease spread among addicts and more dirty needles littering the city.

The alliance will ask local government, medical and charitable institutions to save the exchange.

"What we've been doing is great, but it goes way beyond our mission," said Diane Lang, executive director of the Eugene-based nonprofit agency. "Our mission is to stop HIV, not to control health care costs and side effects of drug abuse in our community."

Since 1999, HIV Alliance staffers have hit the streets and parks of Eugene several times a week, handing out clean hypodermic needles to drug addicts in exchange for dirty ones.

It's not glamorous work but it helps prevent the spread of disease, and it reduces the number of discarded, dirty needles because addicts must turn over their old needles to get new ones. It also puts addicts in touch with people who can help when they're ready to quit.

Addicts who use the program are less likely to share needles, reducing the spread of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, and less likely to reuse dull, dirty needles that can cause nasty infections that can lead to costly hospital visits.

Leaders of the cash-strapped agency had to cut 10 percent of its $840,000 budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, and rather than make across-the-board cuts, executives and board members made the difficult decision to cut what may be its most effective program.

"This is painful because this program is so critical to preventing HIV in this area," board member Betsy Smith said.

HIV Alliance spent $145,000 in the current fiscal year for a program that agency officials say provides incalculable communitywide public health benefits.

The cost for hospitalizing and treating an addict with an infected abscess - caused by reusing dirty needles - can cost from $35,000 to $100,000, Lang said. To treat a single case of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - costs $150,000 to $195,000.

The HIV Alliance board decided Thursday to fund the program through the end of the year, and use that time to seek support from civic, community and health leaders to continue the program. The agency will continue to staff the program if others pick up the cost of supplies, Lang said.

The bulk of outside funding currently comes from PeaceHealth, parent corporation of Sacred Heart Medical Center, which provides materials and supplies and disposal of dirty needles valued at more than $25,000 a year, and United Way, which contributes $13,000.

HIV Alliance wants to bring in additional partners, including the cities of Eugene and Springfield, Lane County, and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.

While continuing the program for the next six months, the agency is cutting back on the supplies that it provides to addicts in addition to clean needles.

No longer will addicts get first-aid supplies, such as gauze and antibacterial ointment; safer injection supplies such as alcohol wipes, tourniquets, clean water and bleach; different size needles and sharps containers; and condoms and lube. Instead, they'll get one size needle and one size sharps container.

The HIV Alliance program - the largest in Oregon - exchanges about 52,000 needles every month, reaching about 30 percent of Lane County's 10,000 injection drug users through direct exchanges and another 45 percent through indirect exchanges, Lang said.

The idea behind the program is known as harm reduction: Encouraging addicts to make incremental steps toward safer behavior, and building trust so when they're ready to quit, they know where to turn for help.

"We recognize the fact that not every person is ready or able to quit using drugs at any given time," said Sharon Chamberlain, the agency's injection drug use outreach director.

"Our point is we would like to keep them safe so when that time comes for them, they can access detox or drug rehab without the extra burden of having HIV or Hepatitis C."

Agency officials say the program has succeeded in changing addicts' attitudes and behavior, where sharing needles is not acceptable.

"It's no longer the norm in Eugene to share needles," Lang said.