APPROVE NEEDLE LAW

Nobody should expect that a needle-exchange program will solve all the
problems associated with the fact that some drug users share needles
and thereby inadvertently share AIDS and various infections diseases.

It might not even be the best way of dealing with the
problem.

But a program like the one approved by the state Legislature and now
awaiting Gov, Gray Davis' signature could be helpful.

At the very least it might ameliorate some of the problems previous
government restrictions have caused.

Current state law prohibits the furnishing, possession or use of
hypodermic needles without a doctor's prescription. Pharmacies keep
more extensive records and exert more controls over needle
prescriptions than over most medicines.

The result is that needles have been made artificially scarce, so drug
users tend to share them - often without soaking them in bleach, which
would prevent the transmission of most infectious diseases.

It doesn't have to be this way. In most of Canada one can buy a needle
without a prescription, just as one might buy a bottle of allergy
medicine. That hasn't led to huge additional surges in intravenous
drug use. The best approach might be to repeal the laws that limit the
supply of hypodermic needles.

The more common model in the United States and in other countries,
however, has been for the government to set up a needle-exchange
program, whereby anybody who brings in a used hypodermic can get a
new, clean sterile one. Those who use the programs aren't referred to
law enforcement, but they can be and often are referred to drug
counseling and addiction programs.

That strikes us as more than a little paternalistic. It also means
that taxpayers pay to furnish clean needles to drug users.

While there's little question that a few hypodermic needles are less
expensive than treating somebody with AIDS, the implicit assumption
that the government should nick taxpayers to take care of everybody's
problems is troubling.

But that's the kind of program - not a state mandate but a change in
the law that allows localities to set up their own programs (within
certain guidelines) without running afoul of state law or inviting
legal hassles - authorized by San Rafael Democratic Assemblywoman
Kerry Mazzoni's legislation. It's a modest program that would almost
certainly slow the spread of AIDS and infectious diseases.

Gov. Davis should sign it into law.