A PLEA TO PHARMACISTS: MAKE IT EASIER FOR DRUG USERS TO BUY SYRINGES

A simple syllogism: Injection drug users transmit HIV and Hepatitis C
by sharing dirty needles. Treating people who contract HIV and
Hepatitis C is fantastically expensive. Therefore, providing drug
addicts with easy access to sterile syringes saves money and lives.

That's why needle exchange programs, such as the one run successfully
by HIV Alliance in Eugene the past five years, are the weapon of
choice on this front of the drug war. Now, state health officials hope
to broaden the offensive by enlisting pharmacists' aid in providing
another effective avenue for drug addicts to obtain clean needles.
It's completely legal in Oregon to sell syringes to anyone who wants
them, no questions asked. More important, it's the right thing to do
from a public health perspective, which is why pharmacists are being
urged to participate in nonjudgmental syringe sales by the American
Medical Association, the American Pharmaceutical Association and the
U.S. Public Health Service.

Fully a third of Oregon's pharmacists are already on board and have
indicated they will always sell syringes to suspected injection drug
users. But a 2002 Department of Human Services survey of Oregon
pharmacists also revealed that 16 percent said they would never sell
syringes to suspected addicts, leaving 54 percent who said they would
sell on a conditional basis.

It's the latter group, representing more than half of the state's
retail pharmacists, that public health officials would like to
persuade to join the campaign. Winning their support means overcoming
some understandable reluctance these pharmacists expressed about doing
business with drug addicts.

There are concerns about having drug users in the store, that they'll
shoplift or scare away other customers. Some pharmacists worry that
selling syringes to suspected drug addicts will increase drug use,
crime and improperly discarded syringes.

The available research should ease these fears. No evidence indicates
that needle exchange or retail sales programs increase drug use, or
that injection drug users are disruptive customers. And the latest
study of needle exchange programs by the University of California,
Berkeley, School of Public Health specifically cites the advantages of
support by pharmacists.

"Needle exchange programs should be supplemented by the expanded sale
of syringes by pharmacists, an approach that has the advantage of
protecting client confidentiality while still guaranteeing the client
that the syringe obtained is sterile," the study said. "This is in
marked contrast to the situation on the street, where syringes are
often repackaged by unscrupulous dealers so as to appear new."

Another huge advantage of having pharmacists participate in syringe
sales to drug users is the additional opportunity it presents to offer
addicts credible information about treatment. Face it: When it comes
to drug information, we trust our local pharmacist.

In the Seattle area, where a successful pharmacy syringe sale program
has been running since 2001, the county health department supplies
participating pharmacies with brochures on where drug addicts can get
treatment and how to properly dispose of needles. The program has
helped more than 400 people get into treatment in the past two years.

Gary Schnabel, executive director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy,
told Register-Guard reporter Tim Christie that his agency has no
immediate plans to issue a policy statement on the syringe issue, but
would consider doing so if asked.

Consider yourself asked, Mr. Schnabel. Use the board's influence to
increase participation by Oregon pharmacists in this important public
health initiative.