EVIDENCE, NOT IDEOLOGY, SHOULD RULE SYRINGE BILL

FIVE years ago, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended that drug users
be able to obtain sterile syringes in order to prevent the transmission of
such deadly, blood-borne diseases as AIDS and Hepatitis C.

Evidence from states that allow over-the-counter sales of syringes shows
that such laws do indeed reduce the spread of disease. And they don't
increase drug use. Yet today, California is one of half a dozen states
still requiring a prescription to purchase a syringe.

Senate Bill 1785, introduced by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose,
would bring this state up to date with the facts. The Pharmacy Syringe Sale
and Disease Prevention Act is endorsed by, among others, the California
Medical Association, the state pharmacists group and the state nurses
association. It has passed the Senate and will be heard in the Assembly
Health Committee on Tuesday, June 18.

Common-sense legislation such as this should fly through the Legislature to
the governor's desk for a quick signature. But because this bill would
allow sales of syringes to users of illegal drugs such as heroin, it risks
being rejected by the hard-on-crime crowd as being soft on drugs.

The fact is that rejecting this bill would show only that legislators are
soft in the head but hard in the heart when it comes to protecting
Californians from AIDS -- especially women and people of color, for whom
the link between syringe sharing and HIV is particularly strong.