DECRIMINALIZE SYRINGES

We urge passage of a bill in the Rhode Island Senate to decriminalize
possession of a syringe without a prescription. The change would give
addicts access to cheap, safe syringes, which they could purchase
without a prescription from drugstores.

Decriminalizing possession would help reduce the spread of disease
from the use of old needles. In particular, sharing needles helps
spread AIDS and hepatitis, costing the state many millions of dollars
in medical expenses. Furthermore, the bill, S-2832, would make life
easier for diabetics who must inject insulin. Now, they must get a
doctor to prescribe the use of needles, an unnecessary burden for such
a chronic illness.

One advantage of the bill would be that intravenous drug users would
be more likely to be in contact with health-care professionals, such
as pharmacists, who could encourage the users to get tested for HIV
and other infections. And such contacts would also make it easier for
law-enforcement officials to keep track of drug users.

Rhode Island is one of the few states where syringe possession remains
a crime. That might help explain why it is one of only four states
where the majority of AIDS cases are related to injection drug use.

A number of states have recently decriminalizes syringe possession,
with positive results. In Connecticut, for instance, the result was a
dramatic decline in syringe reuse (39 percent in the first year), no
recorded increase in illegal-drug use and no increase in publicly
discarded syringes. Connecticut health officials believe that
decriminalization has helped reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis
viruses in the Nutmeg State.

Decriminalization of syringe possesssion is simply common sense. We
hope that it is but one of many steps to make our drug laws more
realistic and humane.