The Fresno Bee, Fresno, CA
Copyright: The Fresno Bee

January 22, 2000, page B7

I went on the streets at age 15.  It was a choice I made: dealing with the hardship of being on the street was better than dealing with my mother.  My mother was bipolar, manic- depressive, a description I learned later.  At the time I just knew she was violent. 

Living on the street, I was taking risks. I knew about AIDS, and I was getting tested every six months. I learned I was HIV-positive on my nineteenth birthday.  I also have hepatitis C.  

I stopped using drugs when I was 23.  I was sitting on a curb, tired, just tired.  A friend happened by and I told him how I felt.  Within minutes, the police were there.  I was already on probation.  This time I was given a choice: jail or drug treatment.  It was the best thing for me.  I am grateful to my friend.  

A new life
I was sent to Warm Springs, way up in Antelope Valley.  To change was to go 180 degrees the opposite way.  I had to stop the anger.  I had the stop the emotional problems.  I had to learn how to deal with people.  I gradually did all that. 

That was four years ago.  I am married now.  I am father to my wife’s two children by a previous marriage.  We have a nice home.  

If I had not made a conscious decision to get sober, I would have none of this.   

I speak now to people at drug treatment programs.  The first thing I say to them is, “Would you know if someone has AIDS?”  

They say, “Yes.” 

Then I tell them that I have HIV and they are shocked.  They are brought back.  I look healthy.  I have a wife, kids and a home.  I am part of society.

I also take 19 pills a day.  I was very ill once.  I am healthy now; AIDS is not an automatic death sentence.  But my children know that I might be sick some day.  I take them to the World AIDS Day March.

My wife means the world to me.  Thankfully she is not HIV positive.  Every time we make love, we use protection, a female condom.  We do not think about having a child together. 

I hope to help raise our two children the best way I can.  I am a househusband.  I plan to stay sober and off drugs.  I go to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous twice a week. 

And I try to help others.  I tell people I am HIV-positive to change their vision of what a person with HIV is.

Prevention less costly
But they need a chance to protect themselves.  Condoms, they can buy.  But to avoid AIDS, people who inject drugs need to have access to drug treatment and sterile needles.  Volunteering in an outreach program, I have talked to drug users on the street in Fresno. The waiting period for drug treatment is often six months. 

Six months to a person who is on drugs is a lifetime.  And not all people who inject drugs are ready to go into treatment.  There was a period when I was not interested in treatment.  For this reason, Fresno also needs a legal needle-exchange program. 

According to the American Medical Association and the United States Surgeon General, needle-exchange programs slow the spread of HIV and do not increase drug use. 

California law makes legal needle exchange possible.  All the county Board of Supervisors has to do is pass a resolution.

Prevention is much less expensive than treatment.  Sterile needles for one person cost less than $1,000 a year.  AIDS treatment for one person can cost $15,000 a year. 

Coming from where I was, I am two different people.  I have now made a good life for myself.  But I have to live with AIDS.   I do not have to speak out and risk discrimination, but I want to save others.   

Injecting drug users are people, too.  Fresno should not be prosecuting volunteers of the San Joaquin Valley Exchange Works.  Fresno should be thanking them for leading the way.  Fresno must begin to take AIDS prevention serious.

Michael Barnett is a resident of Fresno county.