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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1997)
8 ▼ S ep tem b er 5 , 1 9 8 7 T ju st o u t national news Dueling polls Opponents fire more shots in the war over needle-exchange programs n QcU-Pied ▼ For the Gay Man in Your Life • Gay books & cards • Exclusive selection of specialty magazines • Video rentals/sales, novelties & gifts by Bob R oehr It 't b ly Community • New Web Page! www.gaipied.com 2544 NE Broadway 331-1125 Portland, OR 97232 Resources & more! Coventry Cycle (V W orks 4258 SE HawthorneBlvd. Portland OR 97215 236-0505 All 1996 T R E IC . models on Sale Now. • Sales: Buy the bike that's best for you • Selection: Portland’s finest selection of recurnbents u Open Tuesday-Sunday 230-7723 2025 SE Hawthorne OWN YOUR OWN HOME For As Little As $500 DOWN O.A.C. 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C all C entral Homes (503) 6 5 9 -7 2 4 1 $ 4 5 ,2 8 9 ^ T HH3QH 9Q9 A9 OlOHd • Service: Experienced mechanics, tune-up experts Mike Shriver of the National Association of he battle to lift the ban on federal People with AIDS joked that the Family Research funding of needle-exchange programs Council will next call a news conference to an ratcheted up a notch with dueling news nounce that the earth is flat. conferences in Washington, D.C., on Bauer charged “some elites here in Washing Aug. 20. Opponents of needle exchange cited a new ton, D.C., and some so-called experts are moving poll showing that voters oppose removing the in the exact opposite direction [of public opin ban. ion].” He said his group intends to make the issue “a Supporters, meanwhile, pointed to evidence major public policy priority in the months ahead.” that finds needle exchange is an effective way to stem the spread of HIV. Needle exchange is “a Band-Aid on a bullet wound,” said Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, a conser vative group. “The only way to stop the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users is to step up the war on drugs.” He added that needle-exchange pro grams are “a wedge issue to gain drug legalization.” Dr. James L. Curtis, the septuagenarian director of psychiatry and addiction ser vices at Harlem Hospital Center, argued “such programs, if proliferated, could lead to rapid escalation in rates of drug addic tion and of AIDS.” He added that “an influential and well- financed small group of AIDS activists is Dr. Mohammad Akhter misleading the American public to believe that needle exchange is a quick fix to the twin On the flip side, Dr. Mohammad Akter, execu epidemics of addiction and HIV/AIDS.” tive director of the American Public Health Asso The National Institutes of Health, American ciation, made the case for lifting the ban. Medical Association, American Bar Association He said 90 percent of new cases of HIV and U.S. Conference of Mayors are among the infection in women, and 93 percent in children, influential groups which have publicly supported can be traced directly or indirectly to injection needle-exchange programs. drug use. Bauer also claimed that Donna Shalala, secre He added that most needle-exchange programs tary of Health and Human Services, has been make referrals to treatment along with exchang sending public “signals” that she is about to lift ing needles. the ban. Akter also maintained that the dangers of Yet when pressed to explain what those “sig discarded needles are greatly exaggerated. He said exchanging needles gives them a value—much like the deposit on bottles and cans—and hence provides an incen tive to recycle and not to discard needles. Jim Graham, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., talked about his clinic’s needle-ex change program. He called it “the magic bullet in AIDS prevention. It is the least expensive and one of the most effective means that we have of HIV prevention.” All of the 400,000 needles that the clinic hands out each year are labeled, and 97 percent are recycled back for new ones. “We are keeping dirty drug parapher nalia off of the streets of the city,” Graham said. Gary Bauer A woman named Winnie Fairchild nals” were, he responded, “I don’t have dates, spoke about the personal impact the program has places and times fbut she is] favorably disposed had on her life. toward this idea.” “What is more important, my life? Your Bauer also hauled out a poll showing that 62 daughter’s life? Your husband’s life? Or a dollar percent of Americans oppose needle-exchange bill?The people I was shooting drugs with, fourof programs. those five are HIV-positive today,” she said. A poll conducted in April for the Kaiser Fam “Had a needle-exchange program been around ily Foundation, however, showed 55 percent of when 1 was an intravenous drug user, I would n o t, Americans favoring such programs. be a client of Whitman-Walker Clinic today.” The Family Research C ouncil’s Robert The major media responded with a collective Maginnis said the Kaiser poll assumed the effi yawn, even in the dog days of August. The Wash cacy of needle-exchange programs. ington Post, New York Times and even the conser As for the council’s poll, it in essence asked vative Washington Times carried no coverage of responders to evaluate the science and decide for the events. themselves whether or not needle-exchange pro grams work. 0 u flb d c iy $ 7 2 ,9 3 2 Availalble! Payments based on 3 0 years, 11% APR O .A .C . 13233 S.E. McLoughlin, Milwaukie, OR • 659-7241