DAVIS SHOULD OK CLEAN NEEDLE BILL

The California state Senate is expected to vote (this week) on legislation
to save lives by permitting local agencies to establish needle exchange
programs.

But sponsors worry that Gov. Gray Davis may disappoint them.

Davis the candidate recognized that needle-exchange programs reduce the
spread of HIV without promoting drug abuse.

Davis the governor is apparently less sure.

A spokeswoman for the governor said he has taken no formal position on the
bill but believes needle exchange programs are "a local issue, not a state
issue."

In the parlance of Sacramento, this is how a governor signals he is not
eager to sign a bill into law.

Contaminated needles are blamed for one in four new AIDS cases, and dirty
needles in intravenous drug use remain the primary source of AIDS for women,
mothers and unborn children.

Needle exchange programs also save money. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation
estimates care for a person infected with HIV costs $119,000. A clean needle
costs a dime.

This common-sense, life-saving bill should be passed by the Senate and
signed by Davis, who should welcome this opportunity to prove he is not Pete
Wilson.

- - Santa Rosa Press Democrat