A panel of the National Institutes of Health said in 1997 that the programs can cut HIV infection rates among injecting drug users by 30 percent or more. The opposition tide might be turning, however. The CDC said New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island lifted restrictions last year against possessing a syringe without a prescription, for example. Officials in Allegheny County, Pa., where HIV rates among intravenous drug users have doubled during the past year, are holding public hearings this week on whether to allow a pilot needle-exchange program. Fisk's organization distributes clean needles to drug users, even though possession of a nonprescribed syringe is punishable by up to a year in prison under a rarely enforced Pennsylvania law.
Critics contend that needle-exchange programs attract crime and promote drug use.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.