Pubdate: Sun, 25 Oct 2009
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Merrill Balassone
Cited: District Attorney Birgit Fladager http://www.stanislaus-da.org/
Cited: Sheriff Adam Christianson http://stanislaussheriff.net/
Cited: Board of Supervisors http://www.co.stanislaus.ca.us/board/index.shtm
Cited: Harm Reduction Coalition http://www.harmreduction.org/
Cited: Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley 
http://www.stanislaus-da.org/about-us.shtm
Cited: Needle Exchange Programs 
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/aids/Pages/OASyringeAccess.aspx
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

ACTIVISTS EARN SELVES NICKNAME

Mono Park in Modesto's airport neighborhood has earned some dirty 
nicknames. Needle Park, for the used hypodermic syringes on the 
ground, in the nearby alleys and stuck into trees. Or Heroin Park.

Now, the park has given its name to the "Mono Park Two" -- Kristy 
Tribuzio, 36, and Brian Robinson, 37 -- arrested for handing out 
clean needles to drug addicts who shoot up methamphetamine and heroin there.

They face up to a year in jail for doing what they believe is a 
public health service: preventing people from sharing needles and 
curbing the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.

"Our community is in crisis," said Tribuzio, an aspiring high school 
teacher. "Our intention was never to defy authority. It's hard not to 
be passionate about the root cause of so many bad things that happen 
in our community."

Robinson puts it this way.

"It's like safe sex," he said. "If they're going to engage in this, 
have them be safe."

Needle exchange programs have long been controversial, pitting those 
who want to reduce a public health threat against those who fear 
encouraging drug use by supplying the tools.

Local critics, including Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit 
Fladager and Sheriff Adam Christianson, said a needle exchange 
program in Modesto would enable drug users to continue their addiction.

Last September, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors nixed a 
proposal for a needle exchange despite recommendations from a civil 
grand jury and county health professionals.

The grand jury's report said the county was on pace to record 620 new 
hepatitis C cases in 2008, up from 519 in 2007.

"The Central Valley is fighting a cultural war about (syringe 
exchange) while most other people have accepted it as a health 
intervention," said Hilary McQuie, the California director of the 
Harm Reduction Coalition.

In California, there are more than 40 needle exchange programs, but 
the Central Valley has only three, according to the state Department 
of Public Health.

McQuie said arrests or citations for people who ran unauthorized 
needle exchanges were common in the late 1980s and '90s. But she said 
police often looked the other way, because officers were at risk for 
needle stick injuries when arresting people carrying dirty syringes 
in hidden places. Fresno ran an unauthorized program for more than a 
decade, McQuie said.

"It's a shame that the individuals get traumatized when they're 
trying to volunteer their time to do good public health 
intervention," McQuie said. "They have to deal with being treated 
like a drug dealer or criminal."

Tribuzio and Robinson said they were the targets of a sting operation 
- -- with surveillance and wiretapped deputies -- on April 11, as they 
collected dirty syringes and handed out clean needles and drug 
treatment pamphlets in Mono Park.

In the days leading up to their court hearing last week, the two 
collected 35 letters of recommendation from people throughout the 
country and the world, including a Yale professor, a county civil 
grand juror and a former police officer.

They hoped to strike a deal, pledging not to continue a needle 
exchange program in Modesto until it was legal, in exchange for 
dropping the misdemeanor charges.

So far, a prosecutor has declined, they said.

Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said the Sheriff's 
Department began investigating the needle exchange after getting 
complaints from neighbors about the program, as well as drug use and 
sales in the park.

"It's illegal, and our board (of supervisors) has supported law 
enforcement in not legalizing it," Shipley said. "We believe it does 
in fact contribute to ... drug sales and drug usage."

The "Mono Park Two" have learned a hard lesson about the personal 
consequences of being revolutionaries, even unwitting ones.

Since her arrest, Tribuzio has lost her job. Her pending criminal 
case means she can't get her teaching credential, despite working 
toward a master's degree in education, she said.

"I was doing the exact same thing a teacher was doing in San 
Francisco, and she can go back and teach on Monday morning," Tribuzio 
said. "Drug addiction and the spread of disease don't know county boundaries." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake