Thursday, July 07, 2005
The Daily Journal
North Coast Assemblywoman Patty Berg recently gained support for her needle-exchange bill from law enforcement groups working to slow the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis-C.
Berg, D-Eureka, has authored similar bills on the subject of needle-exchange programs for three years and finally gained support from organizations that have traditionally opposed such measures.
The California Peace Officers' Association and the California Narcotic Officers' Association has spent more than two years trying to block Berg's efforts to ease restrictions on clean needle programs, which was eventually vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year.
After long negotiations with law enforcement groups, health officers and Schwarzenegger's staff, Berg agreed to make changes to Assembly Bill 547 to satisfy opposition to her measure.
The bill is designed to eliminate a section of state law that requires cities and counties to declare a health emergency every two weeks in order to operate a needle-exchange program, which initially had no periodic review period.
After including a review each year for the measure, opponents of the measure quickly added their names to the list of supporters.
"The amendments remove our opposition and change us to support," said John Lovell, a representative of both law enforcement agencies. "We would be delighted to go on as co-sponsors of this bill."
Mendocino County Undersheriff Gary Hudson said the bill is a public safety issue designed to allow exchange programs to operate more easily while incorporating a local control measure by including the yearly review.
"This is primarily about making government more efficient. Assemblymember Berg's bill eliminates the requirement to pass a declaration for emergency, therefore it eliminates the need to reauthorize the program every two weeks," he said.
"It may not seem like much, but the process of adding an item to the board's agenda every two weeks takes time, and like every other business, time is money."
Much of the opposition was concerned with a part of the bill that would decriminalize the possession of needles by participants in needle-exchange programs, Hudson said, which was removed along with the amendment to establish a yearly review of such programs.
"The reason we have a needle-exchange program is to control the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne pathogens. Those problems do not go away every two weeks," he said. "Sheriff Craver and I were in support of the bill even before CPOA changed their stance on the issue because we believe that it is an important public safety issue."
Health experts say providing intravenous drug users with clean needles slows the spread of blood-borne diseases and also serves as a gateway to drug treatment programs.
"The science is clear, this program prevents disease and saves lives," said Bruce Pomer of the Health Officers Association of California, which sponsored the bill.
"This shows once again that there is no limit to what you can do when you are willing to work together and listen to other people's ideas," Berg said. "I believe this will save lives and slow the spread of some terrible diseases, and we can all be very happy about that."
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