Local News in Brief : AIDS Panel Scraps Clean Needle Plan
The Los Angeles County Commission on AIDS has scrapped a controversial proposal to provide clean needles for intravenous drug users but is considering resurrecting a plan to distribute free bleach and condoms to drug addicts.
The Board of Supervisors has already rejected the idea of a bleach-and-condom giveaway. But Rabbi Allen Freehling, the commission’s chairman, said he expected the issue to return to the board after the Nov. 8 elections.
In spurning the bleach-and-condom plan in August, some supervisors had warned that it could open the door for programs that would allow drug addicts to swap their used syringes for new needles. The AIDS commission had been considering such a proposal as part of the effort to help prevent the spread of AIDS among intravenous drug users.
But the commission went along with a county task force that concluded, “There is no reasonable evidence that a (needle and syringe) exchange program would be of benefit in preventing the spread of AIDS.” The panel had examined needle exchange programs in Europe, Australia and other parts of the United States.
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