15: A Man on a Mission

It was 1993. The Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) was ten years old and AIDS was spreading across Minnesota. Around the U.S., the virus was quickly finding its way into the “mainstream population.” Many who were testing HIV-positive had no risk factors of which they were aware – they had not received donated blood or blood products, they were heterosexual and thought they were in a monogamous relationship. As it turns out, for many, unprotected sex with an individual who had contracted HIV via injecting drug use became the cause of their infection. Alarms went off nationwide about the dangers of HIV spreading rapidly due to unprotected sex with an injecting drug user. Since the number of Minnesotans already infected through shared needles was relatively low compared to many other regions, MAP wanted to act quickly to keep that number low.

MAP broke new ground when, in 1994, it convinced officials that no laws would be broken by allowing us to provide one-to-one needle exchanges. “Needle exchange programs” were opening all around the world and exchanging used syringes on a one-to-one basis for dirty used ones. Beginning in mid-1993, MAP began meeting with county, city, and state officials to determine if a syringe exchange program located here could gain both community support and avoid law enforcement problems. We had heard tales of other syringe exchanges being observed by law enforcement and those using the program being arrested. There were even some cases of staff from needle exchange programs being arrested.

MAP broke new ground when only a year later, in 1994, it convinced officials that no laws would be broken by allowing us to provide one-to-one exchanges. The agency also worked to convince those in the chemical dependency community that syringe exchange was not “enabling behavior” that kept addicts addicted longer. MAP was able to convince a majority of the public through discussion on talk radio, new stories, and neighborhood meetings that syringe exchange neither “created” new addicts nor caused those already injecting drugs to inject more. Most importantly, MAP was persuasive and accurate in arguments that syringe exchange did not increase crime rates.

Ultimately one of the major forces behind this initiative was a former addict named Bill Main, who had a long track record of tangles with law enforcement. In his own words Bill said, “I’ve had cancer four times, a bullet wound in my shoulder, I’ve been stabbed five times in my stomach and I’ve had my face rearranged several times. So I thought I could never die.” After Bill was infected with HIV from used needles he stole from a “sharps away” container in a Florida hospital, he turned his life around.

MAP's outreach staff offer HIV information, one-to-one syringe exchange, safer sex supplies, and most importantly, information about drug treatment and health care options. Bill moved to Minnesota and began championing the need for a local syringe exchange so that others wouldn’t face the same struggles he endured in battling this disease. A passionate individual with links to the AIDS community and credibility with the drug-using community of the time, Bill sought every opportunity to convince others to not use dirty syringes and to support the opening of local syringe exchanges. Bill told his story over and over to anyone who would listen, including local politicians. Ultimately, Bill and MAP won the fight and in 1995 MAP opened the doors to what was then called “Mainline – A Syringe Exchange Program Run by the Minnesota AIDS Project.” A play on words to the practice of “mainlining” (injecting directly into a vein) the program continues successfully reaching out to those at high risk for HIV through use of injecting drug equipment. The Minnesota AIDS Project mobile van and outreach staff routinely visit sites known for high traffic of active injecting drug users offering HIV information, one-to-one syringe exchange, safer sex supplies, and most importantly, information about drug treatment and health care options.

Bill Main died June 30, 1998. His companion, Julie Ronning stated, “He was very fair. He believed everybody had the right to stay alive until they decided to stop using drugs.”

MAP remembers Bill and his fight each and every time our staff meets up with a new individual seeking help to improve their lives and we thank him for his work in creating a program that has helped keep Minnesota’s HIV cases attributed to injection drugs well below most states in the U.S.

Last Updated: Friday, August 15, 2008
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