Pubdate: Sat, 07 Dec 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Adam Liptak, NYT
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

MASSACHUSETTS: EXEMPTING NEEDLE RECIPIENTS

Participants in a hypodermic needle exchange program in Cambridge may not 
be arrested for possessing needles in Lynn or in other cities and towns 
that have decided not to sponsor such programs, the state's highest court 
held. The state law that allows such programs, which aim to reduce the 
transmission of blood-borne diseases by intravenous drug users, was 
ambiguous about whether it decriminalized the possession of needles just in 
those municipalities that decided to sponsor programs. The court held that 
allowing participants to be arrested elsewhere in the state would frustrate 
the aims of the law.

Adam Liptak (NYT)
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