HEALTH WATCH : Bill With a Moral

Morally repugnant as it may seem, providing new hypodermic needles to drug addicts has proven highly successful in combatting the spread of AIDS. With varying degrees of official toleration, such programs have operated in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Seattle and here in Los Angeles.

In New York State, needle-exchange programs operate legally under state law. Unfortunately, the California programs labor under a legal cloud of uncertainty because Gov. Pete Wilson has twice vetoed bills authorizing counties to permit pilot programs.

To get around this, Mayor Richard Riordan, at the urging of the City Council, declared a health emergency in the city Tuesday. The county Board of Supervisors is considering a similar measure.

The city declaration is really a legal fiction, for there is nothing in it to prevent the police or prosecutors from enforcing laws against needle possession and distribution. But at least it gives them the political cover to look the other way when needle exchange programs distribute syringes in various parts of the city.

In vetoing the bills, Wilson invoked the morality of personal responsibility, saying drug abusers must suffer the consequences of their personal choices. But many others have innocently contracted HIV, the AIDS virus--including infants of drug-using mothers.

The Legislature has now put a third bill authorizing needle exchanges (AB 2610) on the governor’s desk. He should put aside moral qualms and political expediency and sign it in the name of public health.