SUPERVISORS AND A SAINT

Board Botches Needle Plan; Trochet Shines

The politics of fear and the politics of sound science can send
leaders in completely opposite directions. No greater example is the
groundless, gutless behavior of three Sacramento County supervisors:
Roberta MacGlashan, Don Nottoli and Susan Peters.

They rejected a method of medical commerce used in 45 states - the
sale of needles by a pharmacist without a prescription. In so doing,
they have burdened the health care system (that means you, one way or
another) with possibly millions in extra costs while increasing the
spread of HIV and hepatitis C.

The fears were obvious, and at first mention, even somewhat
understandable. A clean needle in the hands of a drug addict may mean
that a dirty one gets discarded unsafely was one warning. Dirty
needles in parks. Dirty needles in the toy section of the big-box
store with the pharmacy. Dirty needles contaminating cops.

And then there is reality: Researchers have repeatedly studied needle
sales. Their work has been scrupulously peer reviewed to ensure that
their methods were fair. Their findings have been published in
prestigious medical journals. The results are clear: Clean needles
don't increase illegal drug use or any public health problem. But
needle sales do decrease the spread of dangerous diseases, saving
taxpayers money while saving lives.

The supervisors heard the evidence some months back in a presentation
by their chief health officer, Dr. Glennah Trochet. Rare is the local
leader who will vote to put a clean needle in the hands of a drug
addict for fear of looking soft on crime. So the board majority chose
to play politics. They ordered Trochet to walk the equivalent of a
political death march. They told her to spend hour after hour before
city councils.

Night after night, council meeting after council meeting, Trochet
presented the issue, the science and the findings. Night after night,
no city council seemed to listen. Neither did county supervisors
MacGlashan, Peters and Nottoli. They chose higher costs and greater
public health risks. They not only played to their own groundless
fears, they spread them via these council meetings throughout the community.

It is difficult to understand why Trochet or any doctor would work for
a board that subjects public health policy to the worst kind of local
politics. But we are glad that she serves the public in our county.
Her professionalism, dignity and unflappable demeanor were a marvel to
behold during this ugly saga. She was right to propose a safer needles
strategy to the board. The board was wrong to reject it without a
shred of actual evidence.