Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
State law blocks it S.F. panel likes needle exchange
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, September 13, 1989 Lori Olszewski, Chronicle Staff Writer
The San Francisco Health Commission yesterday approved the concept of giving drug addicts clean needles in exchange for dirty ones to fight AIDS, but the plan will stay only on paper unless state law changes. The 4-to-1 vote of support was seen as largely symbolic by many at the meeting, although needle exchange supporters said it will give them necessary ammunition to lobby for a change in the state law that makes it illegal to possess syringes without a prescription. "This will not mean anything unless something is done on the state level to change the law," said health commission president John Blumlein, who voted in support of the resolution. "And knowing the Legislature and our governor, that could take some time," Blumlein said. Brandy Moore, chairman of the city's Black Coalition on AIDS and an aide to Assemblyman Willie Brown, D-San Francisco, said, "San Francisco is a recognized leader in AIDS policy, and any action like this will have a tremendous effect on Sacramento." Although Moore and the black coalition support needle exchange, the emotional issue continues to divide the city's black community. Naomi Gray, the city's only black health commissioner, was the lone vote against the concept. She unsuccessfully tried to table the issue until the state law is changed. Gray said needle exchange sends a signal that could encourage drug use. "Crack cocaine is a greater threat to the survival of black people than AIDS. More babies are born addicted to crack cocaine than with AIDS," Gray said. Gray, who has the support of many of the city's leading black ministers, said drug treatment should be the focus of the city's efforts. She said needle exchange is an attempt by white officials to force an ill-advised policy on a black community that doesn't want it. Shirley Gross, director of the Bayview-Hunters Point Foundation, said she and many other black leaders support needle exchange to save lives, especially the lives of babies born to drug addicts. Black newborns are 12 times more likely to be born infected with the AIDS virus than other babies. "Gay white men are not making these babies. Something is going on in our community," Gross said. The Health Commission vote came 10 months after Prevention Point, a group of volunteers frustrated with the government's slow response to the AIDS epidemic among drug users, began an underground and illegal exchange program in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. The vote occurred six months after a Chronicle story on the underground effort spurred a citywide debate on needle exchange. "HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) is killing while politicians and moralists are pontificating," said Jim Haber, a Prevention Point spokesman. Thirteen percent, or 921, of the city's 7,123 AIDS cases diagnosed since 1981 have been among intravenous drug users. Many more of the city's estimated 12,000 to 18,000 intravenous drug users are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, although they have not yet been diagnosed with AIDS.
Keywords: HYPODERMIC NEEDLES; DRUG ABUSE; EQUIPMENT; AIDS; SAFETY; REACTION; SF; SAN FRANCISCO HEALTH COMMISSION 890913
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
