SACRAMENTO APPROVES SYRINGE SALES WITHOUT PRESCRIPTIONS

Nearly a year after a countywide plan failed, the Sacramento City
Council on Tuesday authorized pharmacies -- within city limits -- to
sell up to 10 syringes without a prescription.

"Hepatitis C and HIV are on the rise in Sacramento, and we can take a
public stand and create a program to combat the spread of disease and
save lives," said Councilman Ray Tretheway, after the council adopted
the needle plan.

The council approved the measure on a 6-2 vote, over objections from
law enforcement officials and council members Sandy Sheedy and Robbie
Waters that drug users would discard even more needles. Mayor Heather
Fargo was absent, although she supported the measure in an earlier vote.

Community activist Steve Hansen said pharmacies can provide a safe,
non-intimidating environment for intravenous drug users to buy new,
sterile syringes.

"Pharmacies are really a front line in public health, regardless of
whether you're talking about clean needles or the flu," he said.

But Waters expressed reservations after the council meeting about
drug users walking into a pharmacy and leaving needles on store shelves.

"When these guys need a fix, nothing stands in their way," he said.

"Numerous needles are found weekly in our city parks, and that
concerns me," Waters added.

"I'm concerned about the safety issue of some child ... stepping on
that dirty needle when they're walking through the park."

Sheedy is pushing another measure that would create a needle-exchange program.

The city's needle-sales program could be implemented in about six to
eight weeks. In a bureaucratic twist, the county will oversee it,
even though county supervisors rejected a similar needle-sales plan in October.

Because the city merged its health department into the county's in
1957, the county health officer also serves as the city health officer.

"I will administer the program the way I am required by law to do
so," said county Health Officer Glennah Trochet, who has been a
strong supporter of the idea.

The county health department estimates that there are 15,000 daily
intravenous drug users in the county.

Those users have a 90 percent chance of acquiring hepatitis C within
one year because of used and shared syringes.

Use of contaminated syringes also is linked to 19 percent of all AIDS
cases in California, according to the California Department of Health Services.

"Anything that increases access to clean needles for that population
will decrease the spread of these diseases," Trochet said.

The county's role will be to register pharmacies in the city that
participate in the needle-sales program.

Pharmacies will be required to provide the needle purchaser with
written information or verbal counseling about access to drug
treatment, testing for disease and safe disposal of needles.

The pharmacies also will be required to provide a disposal site for
used needles.

In 2004, the Legislature passed a law allowing pharmacies to sell 10
needles without a prescription to adults, but the practice first has
to be approved by the local government where the pharmacy is located.

As the county supervisors debated the issue last year, city councils
in Rancho Cordova, Galt, Elk Grove and Folsom all voted to oppose
needle sales without a prescription.

The county ultimately rejected the idea on a 3-2 vote, while 16 other
counties in California have approved syringe sales, including Yolo,
Yuba and Solano.

BACKGROUND A 2004 California law allows pharmacies to sell 10 needles
without a prescription to adults, but requires that their local
governments approve the practice first.

City councils in Rancho Cordova, Galt, Elk Grove and Folsom all have
voted to oppose needle sales without a prescription.