FREER SALE OF SYRINGES SAVES LIVES

Illinois is one of only five states that legally require a prescription for
purchasing hypodermic needles, largely because of fear that deregulation
would foster intravenous drug use and addiction. That flies in the face of
science, sound social policy and common sense.

The Illinois House passed a bill in 2000 legalizing the purchase of needles
without a prescription, but it failed in the Senate by one vote. Last month
the Senate approved the measure, and a vote is expected soon in the House.
The House should approve this legislation.

Intravenous injection of drugs with contaminated needles is one of the
major contributors to the spread of AIDS and hepatitis. According to the
Centers for Disease Control, one of every two new HIV infections nationwide
is directly or indirectly caused by dirty needles.

In Illinois, 70 percent of AIDS cases among women and virtually all
pediatric AIDS cases are connected to the sharing of dirty needles, either
directly or through unprotected sex with intravenous drug users already
infected.

Conversely, studies--and most important, the experience of states such as
Minnesota and Connecticut that have deregulated needles sales--consistently
show a decrease in needle sharing and a reduction in new hepatitis and HIV
infections after syringe sales are deregulated. Other research shows that
fears of a spike in intravenous drug use have not materialized.

Yet gut feelings on the part of legislators--or understandable fear and
revulsion with the issue of intravenous drug use--have consistently
thwarted efforts to lift the ban in Illinois.

Most recently, some legislators have voiced concerns about a disposal
problem in public places and possible contamination of children. The bill
headed for the House addresses those concerns by directing the Illinois
Department of Public Health to issue guidelines for communities to develop
disposal programs. Most localities are not likely to be affected, and those
that might be have various options, including pharmacies or community
organizations taking back used needles and safely disposing of them.

In Connecticut, health departments, AIDS service organizations and some
drug stores take back used syringes from those purchasing new ones.

The bill includes other precautions, including an age requirement of 18 for
making purchases and a limit of 20 needles per purchase. Needles would be
kept behind the counter at drug stores.

A key benefit of deregulating needle sales is the opportunity for health
officials and pharmacists to connect, however briefly, with an otherwise
underground population of addicts and to provide crucial information when
they buy or return needles. The bill before the House requires the Illinois
Department of Public Health to distribute information to pharmacies about
HIV infections and drug treatment. That fleeting encounter could save lives
or help someone beat their drug habit.

The cost to taxpayers of deregulating syringe purchases is next to nothing.
More important, it is likely to save lives and hundreds of thousands of
dollars to taxpayers by avoiding new infections.

Illinois ought to join the rest of the country in deregulating the sale of
hypodermic needles.