EMBATTLED LAW PUTS SYRINGES ON SHELVES

Albany -- Needles To Be Sold Over-The-Counter In An Effort To Fight Aids

Coming soon to a CVS Pharmacy near you: over-the-counter hypodermic needles
to fight the spread of AIDS.

After 11 years of resistance, a new state law takes effect Jan. 1 that will
permit people who inject illegal drugs to buy syringes without a prescription.

The public health measure is designed to make uncontaminated needles
available to those determined to shoot drugs despite the risks to
themselves and others. For addicts in the Capital Region, where no
needle-exchange programs exist, the law offers the possibility of reducing
needle sharing and the consequent spread of blood-borne diseases like AIDS
and hepatitis C.

"If HIV were not transmitted by the sharing of needles, the epidemic would
be half the size it is today,'' said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, the
Manhattan Democrat who championed the measure for more than a decade. "We
are talking about tens of thousands of lives.''

Until now, only people with a prescription could acquire new syringes in
New York, resulting in a scarcity that made hypodermic needles an expensive
black market item and led addicts to share them without regard for the
deadly viruses they harbored.

Starting next month, anyone will be able to go to a pharmacy registered
with the state and buy up to 10 needles at one time.

At least one major chain in the Capital Region, CVS, is registering with
the Department of Health to sell needles without a prescription. "It is in
keeping with our position as a health care provider,'' said Todd Andrews,
director of corporate communications for CVS, which already sells needles
without prescriptions in other states. Andrews did not know when local
stores would begin to sell syringes or at what price.

Health care facilities and professionals who register can also provide
needles, which will come in a package with information from the Health
Department warning of the dangers of intravenous drug use, proper ways to
dispose of used needles and the possibilities for treating drug abuse and
HIV infection. The regulations prohibit providers from advertising the new
availability of needles.

In the 17-county area that includes the Capital Region, intravenous drug
use has caused more than 1,500 cases of AIDS among people over 13,
according to Department of Health statistics.

That figure does not include those who did not abuse drugs but nonetheless
became infected through sexual contact with an intravenous drug user, nor
does it encompass HIV-positive children born to infected mothers.

When a needle law was enacted in Connecticut, needle sharing was cut in
half and HIV infections dropped by one-third during 1992 and 1993,
according to Darryl Ng, director of government relations for the Gay Men's
Health Crisis, a Manhattan-based group that pushed for the New York law. Ng
believes that if the program has comparable success in New York, it will
decrease HIV infections by 2,800 cases each year.

"The evidence is telling from studies in other countries, as well as in
Connecticut, that this saves lives,'' said Dr. George Clifford,
administrator of the Albany Medical Center AIDS program.

Supporters of the legislation in New York say the program's success in
other states was a key reason that Gov. George Pataki and other Republican
leaders signaled their support for it when it came before the Legislature.
Gottfried praised Pataki and his staff for investing "an extraordinary
amount of time and political capital'' in a program in effect in more than
40 states.

"The hero is George Pataki, and you don't hear those words out of my mouth
often,'' Gottfried said. Previously, the Assembly Health Committee chairman
had encountered many legislators frightened that legalizing the sale of
syringes might increase drug use or lead them to be seen as condoning it.

Richard Doherty, executive director of St. Peter's Addiction Recovery
Center, said: "People who have problems with addiction have already made
choices. The availability of safe needles will not promote the use of
illegal substances.''

The Department of Health spokeswoman concurs. "A reality check would
indicate if over half the cases (of AIDS) result from IV drug use, a
program to make clean needles available for those who are going to inject
drugs will be beneficial,'' spokeswoman Kristine Smith said.

Supporters also maintain that the program has the potential to save
millions in Medicaid dollars by reducing the number of AIDS cases that
require costly treatment.

In the Capital Region drug abusers remain enigmatic even to those on the
front lines trying to halt addiction or to treat the ensuing diseases such
as AIDS. "It is not a population that is visible, and it is not a
population that is easy to reach,'' said Michele McClave, executive
director of the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York.

McClave's group tries at the start to get drug abusers into a treatment
program that would end any need for injecting narcotics. For those who
refuse to enter programs, the only choice is to stress the need to use
clean needles and condoms to prevent the transmission of the virus,
advocates contend.

Dr. David Rockwell, the chief of the infectious disease section at Ellis
Hospital in Schenectady, is among those voicing guarded optimism about the
program.

"It depends on the addicts buying into the program,'' he said. "It almost
requires more of a commitment to taking care of yourself than some people
have.''