Friday, March 24, 2006

The needle-exchange program: This is 'success'?
The privately funded needle-exchange program of Prevention Point Pittsburgh, operating out of the Allegheny County Health Department in Oakland since 2002, is more track marks than track record.

If intravenous drug users trade their used needles for new ones it supposedly prevents the spread of hepatitis C and the HIV virus. Program supporters were as passionate as opponents after the Health Department declared an HIV and hepatitis C public health emergency among intravenous drug users in 2001.

After four years, the facts speak for themselves:

There were 149 confirmed cases of hepatitis C in 2002
298 cases in 2003

211 in 2004

In 2005, there were 393

During that period there were about 100 HIV cases annually in the county. Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the health department, has looked at reports and studies touting the benefits of the needle-exchange program. "I am not a strong believer in this," said the always candid Dr. Dixon.

And since determining when the hepatitis C infection occurred is difficult, quantifying the program's effectiveness is nearly impossible. Even Dr. Dixon could not draw any conclusions about the worth of the exchange in the 2004 interim report.

When the Allegheny County Health Department board meets on May 3, it must evict the needle pushers who turned the Health Department space into little more than a head shop for the junkies' shooting gallery.

www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/archive/s_436159.html