LOS ANGELES, Sept 21 (AFP) - AIDS activists on Tuesday praised California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for signing a bill allowing pharmacies to sell hypodermic needles to drug users in a bid to combat HIV and AIDS.
The former movie star, a Republican with liberal social views, on Monday signed legislation allowing the sale of up to 10 clean syringes over the counter.
In California and four other US states, a doctor's prescription is currently needed to purchase syringes amid fears that the move would condone and promote intravenous drug use by addicts.
"The consequences of sharing contaminated needles and syringes have taken a significant toll on the public's health," Schwarzenegger said in a message accompanying his signature of the law.
"My administration supports this measure because it will prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases among injection drug users, their sexual partners and their children," said Schwarzenegger, who was elected to lead the most populous US state last October.
The governor said that research had shown that access to syringes significantly reduces the occurence of HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis C without increasing drug use or crime.
Similar bills were vetoed two years ago by former Democratic governor Gray Davis amid fears by some law-enforcement figures that they would send drug use soaring.
Under the law, local governments will be able to decide whether to licence pharmacies to distribute needles under what will be a five-year experiment on the move's effectiveness at combating AIDS and HIV.
Health officials and AIDS activists hailed the governor's controversial move as a political victory, saying the scarcity of clean needles helped spread disease among people who share syringes.
"It's one heck of a whole lot of progress," Bruce Pomer, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California told The Los Angeles Times.
"If you asked me a couple of years ago if we could have a governor who could sign a bill like that, I would tell you I don't think so."
Fred Dillon of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation also praised the move.
"Anything that expands access is really key to fighting AIDS and hepatitis and saving lives," he told The San Francisco Chronicle.
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