Various estimates put the number of injection drug users (IDUs) in the Greater P

Various estimates put the number of injection drug users (IDUs) in the Greater Portland area at anywhere between 500 and 1000. City health officials, using national statistics, estimated that the Portland needle exchange program would attract betwen 100 and 125 IDUs by the end of its first year. But to date, the program has enrolled only 27 people, who have accounted for 81 separate exchanges that collected 445 syringes. Meanwhile, Maine IDUs, their sexual partners, and their offspring account for nearly a third of the state\u27s new cases of HIV, with IDUs under 18 constituting the fastest-growing group of new infections. Portland\u27s exchange is funded by an annual $13,000 grant from the Maine Community AIDS Partnership, a private foundation in Portland