New Jersey is considering a bill that would legalize needle exchanges and the sale of syringes without a prescription:
In every legislative session here but one since 1992, at least one bill has been introduced to allow drug users to exchange used syringes for new ones. And though the details have differed from year to year, one goal has remained constant: to reduce the spread of H.I.V. in a state with one of the nation's highest infection rates.
But 14 years later, New Jersey remains one of only two states — the other is Delaware — that still prohibit both needle exchanges and access to syringes at pharmacies without a prescription. ...
Now Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the State Assembly are determined to legalize needle exchanges. But once again, the effort is being blocked, this time in the State Senate, where Ronald L. Rice, a Democrat, has struck an alliance with Republican lawmakers, who are in the minority, to keep the legislation bottled up in committee.
Legalizing syringes is good public policy; this makes it easier for drug users to consume drugs without risk of HIV infection.
Needle exchanges, at least those supported by governments, are more problematic. Government provision of needle exchanges reduce the pressure for legalizing syringes. Government support of needle exchanges is polarizing, since it appears to condone drug use. And government support of needle exchanges is unnecessary if syringes are legal. In that cases syringes would be inexpensive for users and private groups that wished to distribute them.
It's legal to purchase needles in Michigan, but it hasn't made things safer for the street junkie in Detroit because once the purchaser leaves the store, it is considered drug paraphernalia. So they still end up renting them at the shooting gallery since arrest is a more immediate risk than aids. Here's a link to an interesting study: http://www.aphanet.org/JAPhA/suppl2_cdc.pdf
Posted by: Bryan Fox | June 09, 2006 at 07:43 AM