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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom