BILLS ADDRESS AVAILABILITY OF NEEDLES

BOSTON -- Hoping to stem the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users,
AIDS activists and health workers are backing a handful of bills that would
make it easier for addicts to get clean needles.

One bill would allow the Department of Public Health to establish needle
exchanges without holding the local referendum now required. Several others
would allow adults to get hypodermic syringes without a prescription, said
Rep. William M. Straus.

The Mattapoisett Democrat sits on the Joint Committee on Healthcare which
held public hearings on the bills earlier this week.

Studies have shown a decline in the rate of HIV transmission in communities
where IV drug users have access to clean needles, supporters argue. But
opponents contend that making syringes more accessible encourages drug use.

Rep. Straus said the bills face an uphill battle for passage.

"I don't want to sound like I'm handicapping the odds, but my sense is the
committee will be very cautious about decriminalizing possession of
needles," he said, noting he has not yet made up his mind on whether to
support the concept or not.

"The problem with decriminalization is there is no guarantee that the
sharing of needles would stop among IV drug users," he said.

The representative said he opposes the idea of ceding local control over
needle exchanges to the Department of Public health.

A recent study of intravenous drug users in New Bedford found nearly a third
tested positive for HIV, and more than two thirds shared needles. According
to the Department of Public Health, 58 percent of the 464 reported cases of
AIDS in the city are attributed to IV drug use, compared to a statewide rate
of 40 percent.

City voters overwhelmingly opposed a needle exchange when it landed on the
ballot in 1996.

State Rep. Antonio F. Cabral, D-New Bedford, called the concept of
decriminalization a new twist in the debate over improving access to sterile
syringes. Noting 42 other states already have done this, he said he has
gotten supportive calls on the issue from diabetics and others who currently
cannot get syringes without a prescription.

"At this point I'm open to the argument that it could be good public health
policy to allow this to happen," he said. "But I have not made up my mind
for sure yet."

State Sen. Mark C. Montigny, D-New Bedford, who supported a needle exchange
in 1996, has not yet taken a stand on the needle bills currently pending, a
spokesman said.

Those testifying in favor of improving access to clean needles included the
commissioner of the Department of Public Health, AIDS activists, outreach
workers, including representatives from the New Bedford-based group
Treatment on Demand. Opponents included a representative of the Christian
Collation of Massachusetts, according
to Rep. Straus.

"This has always been such a difficult issue because there is no clear right
or wrong," he said.