CITY DRAFTING NO-PRESCRIPTION NEEDLE RULES

Citing scientific studies, the Sacramento City Council asked city
staff to write a draft ordinance that would allow the purchase of
hypodermic needles without a doctor's prescription inside the city limits.

The motion passed 7-2 with council members Sandy Sheedy and Robbie
Waters voting against the proposal. Sheedy followed with a second
motion asking for the feasibility of funding a local needle exchange
program. That motion passed unanimously.

The decision came after several advocates argued that needle sales
without a prescription would reduce the transmission of AIDS,
hepatitis C and other diseases among drug users.

Council member Steve Cohn said the council needs to address the issue
based on fact and not on emotion. "The evidence is very clear that it
does have a health benefit," Cohn said.

State law allows a pharmacy to sell up to 10 needles to an adult at
one time without a prescription. But the practice first has to be
approved by the local government where the pharmacy is located.

Opponents of the measure argued that the program would literally put
more needles on the streets. Drug users hoard their hypodermic
needles using them over and over. The new program would allow them to
just get new ones and leave the used ones in the streets to be picked
up by children, opponents contended.

But state health officials and experts from the University of
California, Davis, pointed to several studies that indicate needle
sales programs will drastically reduce the spread of blood-borne diseases.

The Sacramento County Health Department estimates that there are
approximately 15,000 daily intravenous drug users in the county.
Those users have a 90 percent chance of being infected with hepatitis
C within one year because of used and shared syringes.

Currently, 46 states allow the sales of syringes without a prescription.