AIDS Activists Will Continue Swapping Old Needles for New and Defying Police

AIDS activists said Tuesday they will continue to flout state law and distribute clean needles to drug addicts downtown in an attempt to slow the spread of the deadly disease.

Members of the the San Diego chapter of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT-UP, said they will continue a program of exchanging clean needles for dirty ones despite threats from San Diego police officials that group members will be arrested if caught with illegal needles.

It is a misdemeanor violation of state law to possess a needle and syringe without a prescription.

ACT-UP member Ben Schultz met with City Manager Jack McGrory and San Diego Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Norman Stamper Tuesday to discuss the group’s needle distribution. ACT-UP members hand out clean needles in exchange for dirty ones on Saturdays, across the street from the Neil Good Day Center for the Homeless on 17th Street.

Schultz and Stamper agreed that both sides support efforts to stop the spread of AIDS. But each came away from the meeting with a different view about the police department’s position on the needle exchange program.

“Stamper basically came out in support of the needle exchange. We’re doing the exchange and will continue to do it, and Stamper basically said they (police) will keep their hands off,” Schultz said.

Stamper had a different interpretation of what was agreed to at the meeting.

“He’s right (about police supporting efforts to slow the spread of AIDS) up to the point where he said we will keep our hands off,” Stamper said. “We have made no promises. I don’t think he’s being disingenuous. Rather, I think there’s a communication problem here.”

Assistant Chief Dave Worden was more blunt about the department’s position on ACT-UP’s needle exchange program.

“If the cops run across them, they’re going to pop them and impound their stuff,” Worden said. “We exercise a certain amount of discretion, but this is not something where our officers will turn the other way.”

Both Worden and Stamper said that officers’ hands are tied by state law.

“We support what they’re doing, but have a problem with the way they’re doing it,” Worden said. “Until the law is changed, it is illegal to possess a needle and syringe without a prescription.”

The exchange program has been modified greatly since it began in January, Schultz said.

“We were giving away clean needles and a safe sex kit. But at this point, we are just doing a straight exchange, a clean needle for a dirty one. Before, we were giving away a clean needle to anyone who asked for one. . . . This way nobody can accuse us of putting more needles on the street,” Schultz said.

Two bills pending in the Assembly would legalize needle exchange programs under strict guidelines, Schultz and Stamper said.

“We need time to consult with our police management and the city attorney’s office to see what we can do to achieve that goal (reducing the spread of AIDS),” Stamper said. “ . . . We don’t want to see anybody stuck with a dirty needle. If I got stuck, I would prefer to get stuck with a clean needle.”

“Legal issues still need to be explored,” Stamper added.

Despite confusion over police support for the program, Schultz said the group will continue with the 6-week-old exchange program.

“This is an illegal activity, no question about it,” Schultz said. “ . . . But we will continue doing this until there is a legal needle exchange program. We’re doing this because AIDS is transmitted through sex and dirty needles. We, the people, have to address this crisis because the political leadership is ignoring it at every level. Someone has to act.”