|
Harm
Reduction:
Delaware
Needle
Exchange
Bill
Passes
House,
Awaits
Governor's
Signature
7/7/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/443/delawareneps.shtml
The Delaware House approved
a needle exchange bill on a 23-15 vote June 29. With the bill having already
passed the Senate last year, it now goes to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D).
Minner is expected to sign the bill, which would leave New Jersey as the
only state in the nation without a law authorizing needle exchange programs.
The bill establishes a five-year
pilot program in Wilmington, where addicts can exchange used needles for
new ones provided by the Department of Public Health. The project
would be mobile, with a van sent into areas of high injection drug use.
Needle exchange participants would also be offered HIV testing, counseling,
and referrals to drug treatment programs. Participants would be issued
ID cards and the state-provided needles would carry labels exempting them
from the state's drug paraphernalia law.
Supporters of the bill say
the program will reduce the number of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other blood-borne
diseases caused by injection drug use. Delaware's HIV infection rate
is among the highest in the nation, and shared drug injection equipment
is a primary mode of transmission for the virus in the state.
Republican opponents of the
bill said it sends the wrong message. "Delaware has a serious heroin
problem," said Attorney General Carl Danberg in a statement read on the
House floor. "I cannot support anything which has the appearance
of condoning intravenous heroin use."
Fortunately, the legislature
was more interested in the reality of reducing HIV and Hep C infections
than the appearance of being "soft on drugs."
-- END --
|
Issue #443
-- 7/7/06
Editorial:
Is
Ecstasy
a
Dangerous
Drug?
|
Medical
Marijuana:
Five
Arrested,
13
Dispensaries
Raided
by
DEA
in
San
Diego
|
Feature:
Battle
Over
California's
Proposition
36
to
Head
to
Court
|
Feature:
Wisconsin
Drug
Reform
Activist
and
Senate
Candidate
Ben
Masel
Assaulted,
Arrested
By
Campus
Cops,
Plans
to
Sue
|
Sad
News:
Drug
Policy
Scholar
Lynn
Zimmer
Dead
at
59
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Vote
Hemp
Alert:
Proposed
North
Dakota
Hemp
Rules
|
Australia:
Member
of
South
Australia
Parliament
Says
Raves
Safer
Than
Hotel
Bars,
Urges
Testing
Programs
for
Ecstasy
and
Other
Pills
|
Europe:
Russian
Official
Calls
for
Ban
on
Magazines
Over
Drug,
Sex
Content
|
Harm
Reduction:
Delaware
Needle
Exchange
Bill
Passes
House,
Awaits
Governor's
Signature
|
Harm
Reduction:
Massachusetts
Governor
Vetoes
Needle
Sales
Bill
|
Canadian
Senator
and
Former
Mayor
Roasts
UN
Anti-Drug
Chief
in
E-Mail
over
"World
Drug
Report"
|
Web
Scan:
Politicians
Who
Have
Used
Marijuana
Radio
Ad,
Tony
Papa
on
Dwight
Gooden,
VICS
Cannabinoid
Chronicles
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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