Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, May 24, 2002
Greg Lucas, Sacramento Bureau Chief
Although peace officer groups opposed the bill, supporters were able to convince enough senators that more clean needles made available more easily would reduce the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis among drug users.
"This is not endorsing addiction," said the bill's author, Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, after the 40-member Senate narrowly approved the bill on a 21-to-12 vote.
"The bill just recognizes addicts are going to shoot up, and this bill helps them do that in a way that's not fatal to them or others," Vasconcellos said.
Forty-four other states allow pharmacies to sell needles and syringes without a prescription, Vasconcellos said.
California now requires a prescription to buy needles unless they are used to inject adrenaline or insulin.
Vasconcellos' bill would let licensed pharmacies sell up to 30 clean needles to anyone over 18 years of age.
Allowing needles to be sold at pharmacies is supposed to compliment existing needle exchange programs, which operate in the state's largest cities.
Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, said that sharing needles was "part of the drug culture" and that addicts would continue doing so, regardless of how easy it is to get clean needles.
"This bill allows addicts who share needles to have more needles to share," Morrow said. "There will only be a proliferation of disease."
Another opponent of the bill, the Committee on Moral Concerns, claimed that making clean needles more readily available would encourage children to try injection drug use.
The California Narcotics Officers Association said it objected to the bill because it allowed unfettered distribution of needles -- unlike needle- exchange programs, which have local oversight.
Vasconcellos' biggest challenge comes in the Assembly, where his bill is now headed. A similar measure was killed in the lower house's health committee. Gov. Gray Davis has yet to take a position on the measure.
E-mail Greg Lucas at glucas@sfchronicle.com.
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