Berg's needle-sharing bill should be signed by governor
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
To maintain a public health emergency, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors has to decide every two weeks if it wants to extend the emergency that allows a needle-exchange program to proceed in Humboldt County.
The two-week requirement is a bureaucratic waste of time that should be cast aside. If the bill succeeds, it will remove the every-two-week requirement and boards of supervisors can devote their time to other issues.
The needle-exchange program is part of an effort to reduce the transmission of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood-borne pathogens. This is accomplished because drug users are able to exchange used and possibly contaminated needles for new, sterile needles.
It’s an obvious fact that the less needles that are shared, then the less transmission of blood-borne diseases will occur, and that is precisely why we applaud Berg in her effort to get this common-sense legislation through the legislative process.
Every case of HIV or Hepatitis C that we can avoid is not merely an act of conscience in humanitarian terms of helping those who need help, rather, it is also a fiscal reality that the less cases of HIV and Hepatitis C, then the less taxpayers will have to pay for treatment of those conditions. Those not moved by humanitarian concerns should understand the economic realities involved in this effort.
Now the bill is on the governor’s desk for his consideration. We urge him to sign this bill that would remove the every-two-week requirement.
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