The state Senate has approved a bill permitting over the counter sale of syringes. It’s meant as a way of slowing the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among drug users. Without a prescription, 10 could be purchased. I’ve heard the arguments about dirty needles spreading disease, even to innocents, and they are compelling. But I wonder about expecting the drug users to property dispose of used needles. Might they be left someone where a child could stick himself or a trash collector could accidentally prick his hand?
It seems that a better way to do it is require used needles to be returned where they can be disposed of properly in a sharps container as they do in doctors’ offices. To become law, it has to pass the Assembly and be signed by the governor.