Pubdate: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 Source: Economist, The (UK) Copyright: 2003 The Economist Newspaper Limited Contact: http://www.economist.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/132 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) NEEDLE POINTS Political Posturing Makes The Lives Of Drug Addicts Even Less Healthy OUT of all the unbecoming parts of drug addiction, the search for clean needles is particularly ghastly. Dirty needles account for a third of all reported AIDS cases: they also explain why half of all long-term addicts get hepatitis C. California is particularly lethal in this respect. A few counties boast needle-exchange programmes, but owning syringes is still illegal (and police often wait around the exchanges and confiscate needles). According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, most Californian junkies either share syringes or dig used needles out of garbage dumpsters. So you would imagine widespread acceptance for a bill that California's state Senate passed on September 4th, which would authorise pharmacies to sell anybody 30 syringes without the need for a prescription, and allow that person to own them. In fact, California's governor, Gray Davis, vetoed a similar proposal last year--and may do so again. He is hardly on a limb. The use of federal money to support needle-exchange programmes has been banned since 1988. Most states prohibit the unauthorised possession of syringes, and only three ban police from arresting people with needles from exchange programmes. Many politicians, including George Bush, claim needle exchanges undermine the war on drugs. This mantra lacks but one thing: evidence to support it. Studies show the provision of clean needles does not increase either crime or drug use. On the other side, there is no end of evidence that dirty needles cost a lot of taxpayers' money in AIDS treatment, and shorten many lives. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom