THE POLITICS OF NEEDLES

It's easy to see what you want to see when you look at an issue from
30,000 feet and through the prism of political ambition.

Some 47 states, including every New England neighbor, allow the sale
of hypodermic needles without a prescription. But Gov. Mitt Romney
insists that would facilitate illegal drug use.

Surely then two of the state's top prosecutors and Boston's police
commissioner, who support the legalization plan, must be blind to the
public safety implications of their positions. Or then again maybe
they're just too busy fighting the real war on drugs.

"If I thought, for one minute, that support for this legislation
would increase drug use, I would not support this legislation,"
Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said. "Drug users are
very determined in their pursuit of drugs."

Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley and the state
Department of Public Health agree.

The Massachusetts Medical Society noted, "One-time-only use of
sterile syringes is a central strategy in the effort to prevent HIV
and other blood-borne diseases among injection drug users who continue
to inject without fear of criminal or civil liability."

In other words, whether the government "condones" illegal drug use
or not really doesn't enter the thought process of a heroin addict.

Connecticut saw use of dirty needles among addicts drop from 71
percent to 29 percent when it changed its syringe access laws. In this
state where some 39 percent of HIV cases are related to sharing dirty
needles along with half of the 110,000 annual cases of hepatitis C,
the need to go beyond a community by community needle exchange program
is obvious.

We opposed Boston's involvement in the needle exchange program because
it seemed a poor use of taxpayer resources. One of the advantages of
legalizing needle sales without a prescription is it costs taxpayers
virtually nothing, and in fact, could save on Medicaid costs by
reducing the spread of disease.

A smart politician keeps his political options open. A selfish one
makes decisions at the expense of the citizens he is supposed to
serve. Romney is making the wrong choice.