NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM EXPANDS

Officials in California's San Mateo County were slated to declare a local
health emergency on Tuesday, in order to legalize needle exchange programs.

A law signed by California Gov. Gray Davis in October permits local
agencies to declare public health emergencies in order to legally hold
needle exchanges, and a growing number of counties in the area have done so.

The counties that have issued such declarations--including Alameda and
Contra Costa last week, and Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz long
before that--will only be protected from prosecution after the law takes
effect, on January 1, 2000.

A report issued earlier this month indicated that up to 13,000 San Mateo
County residents may be infected with hepatitis C, approximately two-thirds
of whom were infected via dirty syringes.