NEEDLE LAW WINS APPROVAL

Romney Veto Certain, But Override Expected

BOSTON -- State lawmakers yesterday sent a proposed law
decriminalizing the possession of hypodermic needles to Gov. Mitt
Romney's desk, where it faces a certain veto. However, legislators
said they have enough support in the House and Senate to override the
objection of the Romney administration and make it law.

Advocates of
the bill, including Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, who filed the
legislation in the Senate, said it will curb the spread of hepatitis
C and HIV. The proposed law would allow adults 18 and older to
purchase clean needles at pharmacies without a prescription, in the
hope they will not share dirty needles.

But Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey,
speaking yesterday at a press conference on the Statehouse steps,
predicted it will lead to more drug use and a proliferation of
needles in public spaces, including beaches. "Imagine your children
not only coming upon dirty needles in the park, but standing next to
a drug addict in the checkout line at CVS who is there to buy more
needles to feed his or her addiction," Healey said. "We already have
a terrible problem of drug abuse, especially heroin abuse here in
Massachusetts, and we need to make sure that we are not sending the
wrong message either to addicts or to our children by legalizing the
sale of needles over the counter."

A group of protesters across
Beacon Street tried to drown out Healey with chants of "Pharmacy
access now" and "Public health." Later, Middlesex County District
Attorney Martha Coakley, O'Leary, state Democratic Party Chairman
Philip Johnston and other Democrats held a separate press conference
to call for the passage of the bill. Coakley is running for attorney
general this fall. O'Leary said studies in the 47 states that have
decriminalized needle sales have shown that it reduced the spread of
AIDS and hepatitis C, and there are no statistics showing that it
increased drug use. The only other two states to make it a crime to
possess needles without a prescription are Delaware and New Jersey.

"It's a public health issue," O'Leary said. "(Republicans) are
basically appealing to people's prejudices, and it's for political
purposes. That's just not the right thing to do." The bill passed the
House 115-37 in November. It cleared the Senate earlier this month by
a vote of 26-8, with Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, and Sen.
Joan M. Menard, D-Fall River, supporting it, and Sen. Marc R.
Pacheco, D-Taunton, voting no. Both chambers approved the bill in a
final technical vote yesterday. The Legislature would need a
two-thirds vote to override Romney's veto.

Sen. Therese Murray,
D-Plymouth, also voted for the bill. "If anything, the more people
become educated on this, the more votes we get," O'Leary said. "Every
week they have delayed this we have gotten stronger and not weaker."

Separate proposals for needle exchanges -- where dirty needles are
exchanged for clean ones -- have been controversial. Only four
Massachusetts communities allow it: Provincetown, Boston, Cambridge
and Northampton. A proposal to open a needle exchange center in
Westport was approved by the Board of Selectmen last year, but the
board reversed itself after public outrage in the town.