Koch Backs Idea of Giving Clean Needles to Addicts

Surrounded by reporters in a City Hall corridor, Mayor Edward I. Koch pledged support Friday for a state Health Department pilot project to give a small group of New York City drug addicts free disposable hypodermic needles to fight the spread of AIDS.

But in mid-sentence, the mayor was told by a reporter that state officials were pulling back and stressing that the offer of free needles was only a proposal, and that they were still trying to see whether a meaningful scientific experiment could be designed.

Implementation, the state officials were saying, would require the approval of Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, and the governor’s office was quick to stress that there had been no decision.

‘Don’t Believe Reporters’

“The lesson is, don’t believe reporters,” Koch quipped before turning serious. “. . . I am for a pilot project and I support that. I don’t have the slightest idea if the plan is alive or dead.”

The scene that left the mayor out on a limb was a testament to the political sensitivity of the AIDS issue--an issue that sometimes pits law enforcement personnel against physicians.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod said that statements earlier in the day by Peter Slocum, his spokesman, that the Health Department had a needle distribution plan in place and was ready to launch it after the mayor approved were wrong.

“Peter (Slocum) just misinterpreted what I said and just assumed we were proceeding with the proposal, and that is not true,” Axelrod explained.

Studying Proposal

The health commissioner, who until recently was firmly against giving needles to any drug addicts, said he is studying a proposal by the state Division of Substance Abuse Services to distribute the needles to a small control group of addicts. He said he decided to reevaluate his stand after the Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, called last week for an experiment giving sterile needles and syringes to some intravenous drug users to see whether the transmission of AIDS virus through sharing of contaminated needles can be reduced.

“There are a whole host of issues that have to be addressed,” Axelrod said.

Earlier in the day, Frances Tarlton, another state Health Department public relations official, spoke as if many of the issues already had been resolved. She said that Axelrod felt that it is time to try a carefully defined scientific study using addicts.

“He has not consulted with the governor yet on this issue,” she added. “He will have to put together this proposal and convince the governor (that) it is the appropriate thing to do.”

Legal Prohibition

Under New York State law, hypodermic needles cannot be purchased without a doctor’s prescription or a special Health Department permit. But former New York City Health Commissioner Dr. David Sencer last year proposed that the law be changed to allow the sale of hypodermic needles without a prescription.