DIRTY, DEADLY NEEDLES

All California needs to help stop the spread of AIDS is Davis' signature on
Assembly Bill 518.

AN ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. How often have you heard
that? More to the point, how often has Gov. Gray Davis heard it?

Maybe not often enough. While Davis supported needle exchange programs last
year during his campaign, he has been silent about this year's legislation
that would allow local governments to set up needle exchange programs as a
way to prevent the spread of AIDS. In fact, insiders worry that he is
leaning against signing Assembly Bill 518.

This bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni, D-San Rafael, is a
modest first step. It would provide no state funding for needle exchanges,
but would merely give legal authority to counties and cities that want to
create or continue needle exchange programs.

Some programs exist already, but on shaky legal ground. In much of the Bay
Area, underground needle exchanges exist while police turn a blind eye.
Berkeley's program is technically legal only because the city council
declares a state of medical emergency every two weeks. Santa Clara County
established a needle exchange in the mid-1990s, but later withdrew funding
under intense pressure from then-state Attorney General Dan Lungren. The
current exchange program is run by volunteers with no connection to the
county government.

All the evidence shows that needle exchange programs do help stop the
spread of AIDS, especially to women and then to the children they bear;
they do not encourage illegal drug use. The federal government has
officially acknowledged that fact. Indeed, politics is all that stands in
the way of a nationwide needle-exchange program that would save thousands
of lives.

But until reason instead of emotion rules Congress, state and local
governments will have to take the initiative to fight AIDS. AB 518 was
approved by the Senate Tuesday; its next stop is the governor's desk.

Two other bills approaching final legislative approval are AB 88, which
requires insurers to provide coverage for biologically based mental
illnesses at the same level they cover physical ailments; and SB 41, which
mandates insurance coverage for contraception. By dealing with untreated
mental illness and unwanted pregnancies they would, like AB 518, provide
much-needed services while saving society from huge costs.

We urge the Legislature and Gov. Davis to make all three become law.