SYRINGE SALE BILL GETS SENATE OK

Among Scores Of Proposals, Legislators Also Consider A Milder Version
Of A Farm Labor Measure That Has Put The Governor In The Hot Seat.

California would join most other states in allowing over-the-counter
sales of syringes under a measure now facing Gov. Gray Davis.

The state Senate on Friday gave final approval to the bill by Sen.
John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, voting 21-12 to let pharmacists sell up
to 30 syringes at a time to customers 18 and older without a doctor's
prescription. California is one of six states requiring prescriptions
to buy syringes.

Opponents argue the measure gives heroin addicts and other intravenous
drug users easier access to needles without taking dirty needles off
the street, as needle exchange programs seek to do.

Vasconcellos said his measure would stem the spread of HIV, hepatitis
C and other infectious diseases, at no cost to taxpayers, by giving
drug users who are determined to shoot up an alternative to needle
sharing.