Needles found at nonprofit
Tuesday, September 21, 2004

BY BUFFY SPENCER
bspencer@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - City police are seeking warrants against the president of Arise for Social Justice after a search at the group's Rifle Street office yielded 380 unused hypodermic syringes, 62 hypodermic syringe preparation kits and a medical container of used needles.

Capt. William Cochrane of the police Narcotics Bureau said it appeared Arise had "set up its own unlicensed needle exchange program."

Arise, a private, nonprofit group, has been a proponent of needle exchange programs as a way to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS by drug addicts who share needles. Springfield has not opted to accept a needle exchange program as Northampton and Hartford have.

Police are seeking warrants for unlicensed distribution of hypodermic syringes for Arise president Michaelann C. Bewsee, 56, whose address is listed on police paperwork as the same as the 94 Rifle St. office; and agency member Tory Field, 28, whose address police said was 78 Williston Ave., Easthampton.

Bewsee said that she and Field are withholding comment upon advice of legal counsel.

Show cause hearings have been scheduled in District Court for Oct. 1 for both women, Cochrane said.

Show cause hearings are usually in front of a magistrate and are closed to the public. After hearing from both sides, the court decides whether or not to issue a criminal complaint. If a complaint is issued, prosecution on the charges begins.

Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett said he could not comment until he reviews the police reports. He has previously spoken against needle exchange programs, saying they pose complicated legal questions and promote crime.

Cochrane said that after an investigation of several months, police applied for a District Court search warrant for the Arise office. The search warrant was executed Thursday by a team of narcotics officers under the direction of Sgt. Kenneth Olson.

He said that officers found a small amount of marijuana in Field's purse, and she is charged with possession of marijuana.

In addition to the unused needles and preparation kits, police found dirty needles in a container used in medical practices for medical waste and sharp objects, Cochrane said.

Bewsee is currently awaiting trial on other charges. Bewsee pleaded innocent July 14 in District Court to charges of disorderly conduct, assault and battery on a police officer and disturbing a lawful assembly and is scheduled for trial Nov. 29.

She was arrested July 13 while insisting that a property being auctioned by the city should be used for housing the homeless. Police said that the charge alleges she pushed Officer Elizabeth Dasso, who was in the hall trying to block her from going back into the City Hall room where the auction was being held after Bewsee was taken out by police.

Arise members had participated in a demonstration here Aug. 2 to protest the fact that legislation that would have given drug users access to clean syringes without a prescription died in the Ways and Means Committee of the state House of Representatives.

The local protest was organized by the Springfield Harm Reduction Coalition, a group composed of 16 different organizations in the area including Arise for Social Justice and the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts.

State law gives local elected officials the power to adopt a state Department of Public Health-run needle exchange program. Such programs have been adopted in Boston, Cambridge and Provincetown in addition to Northampton.

In 1998, the Springfield City Council voted against a measure that would have established a needle exchange program here. City Councilor Bud L. Williams, who at the time voted against the proposal, said this summer that he will submit a plan for a needle exchange program to the council by early October. He could not be reached yesterday.

Timothy J. Rooke, a city councilor opposed to needle exchange programs, said he had heard rumors that exchanges have been in existence for up to 10 years, but never heard of one linked to Arise.

He said that he is not a believer in needle exchange because a needle "is only clean for the first person who uses it." He said in a typical scenario three or four people may share a needle.

Springfield is fourth in rank statewide for the rate of HIV/AIDS infection per 100,000 people. Its rate is 578 per 100,000 people and the number of infected people is 879.