CLEAN NEEDLES MAKE SENSE

With relatively little fanfare, the Illinois House this month approved
the legalization of over-the-counter sale of hypodermic syringes--a
long-overdue measure that brings Illinois in line with 42 other states
and could be a major weapon in AIDS prevention.

The bill, allowing the purchase and possession of up to 10 needles by
adults 18 years or older, deserves prompt approval by the Senate and
Gov. George Ryan.

Sale of hypodermic needles, or the distribution of clean needles to
intravenous drug users, historically has been a hot-button issue in
which rhetoric and politics have trumped facts and good science.
Making needles available, the argument goes, only fosters narcotics
use, or at least signals society's approval of it.

Nonsense. Medical studies have consistently found that availability of
clean needles does not foster use of illicit drugs. What it does is
reduce chances addicts will contract AIDS or other infectious diseases
such as Hepatitis C, and then pass it on to their sexual partners and
possibly to their children.

According to David Munar, director of public policy of the AIDS
Foundation of Chicago, nearly all pediatric AIDS cases in Illinois can
be traced to the use of contaminated needles by one of the parents.

Irrational opposition to clean-needle programs extends all the way to
the Clinton administration, which opposes federal funding of such
efforts on the one hand--while studies by its own Department of Health
and Human Services indicate such efforts effectively stem the spread
of AIDS.

Such policy schizophrenia is caused by the fear of seeming "soft on
drugs." In Illinois, needle-exchange legislation has foundered in
Springfield for at least a decade, despite nearly unanimous
endorsements by medical organizations and AIDS-support groups.

Indeed, legalizing needle sales may have had an easier time in the
House than funding for needle exchanges because the latter might be
perceived as a government "subsidy" for illicit drug users.

On the streets, used--and likely contaminated--hypodermic needles go
for about $1 apiece; new needles in the black market for about $5
each. The bill approved by the House will make needles readily
available at drug stores for as low as $2.50 for a 10-pack.

The bill costs state taxpayers nothing. On the contrary, it is likely
to reduce public costs of treating indigent addicts with AIDS, which
can reach $750,000 for each patient.

Most significantly though, by reducing their chances of contracting
AIDS, it increases the likelihood that intravenous drug users may live
until the day when they can face their addiction--and seek help.