Criminal
Jun. 21, 2002
Paraphernalia Exemption Sought
SAN JOSE - The Santa Clara County district attorney's office is taking on an influential state law enforcement group to support a bill that would exempt employees of government-authorized needle exchange programs from prosecution for distributing drug paraphernalia.
Proponents say the bill, SB1734, is a necessary public health measure because clean needles are useless if other equipment - such as cookers, water and cotton - is contaminated. The bill was written by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose.
Under current law, it is legal to give out needles in approved government programs. But Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu said the accompanying paraphernalia is not legal and that many needle exchange programs are leery of distributing for fear of arrest.
"We want to distribute clean paraphernalia in order to ensure the cleanliness of the needles," Sinunu said.
The bill has passed the state Senate and was to be introduced in the Assembly next week. But the measure has run into opposition from the California Narcotics Officers Association, as well as from Republican legislators, who fear it will encourage illegal drug use.
John Lovell, the law enforcement group's legislative counsel, said the bill is unnecessary at best because no one who works at a government-authorized needle exchange program has ever been prosecuted for handing out drug paraphernalia. He said he doesn't think it would be illegal, anyway.
Lovell said he fears the measure could complicate drug prosecutions. "If the bill does nothing, what concerns us is what [courts will determine] the Legislature intended by this law," he said.
Sinunu disagrees the law is unnecessary, saying law enforcement agencies turn a blind eye when some organizations give out cookers and other paraphernalia. In some counties, needle exchange programs play it safe by not giving out such items at all. She said public safety is endangered as a result.
Kevin Hutchcroft, the HIV/AIDS prevention manager with the Santa Clara County public health department, said he cannot recall anyone in the state being arrested for giving out paraphernalia through an approved needle-exchange program. "I don't know how rigorously they enforce the law, but it would be a nice clarification," he said.
The bill may have trouble getting signed into law, in part because it is linked with a higher-profile Vasconcellos bill, SB1785, that would allow state pharmacists and health care workers to sell up to 30 syringes without a prescription.
That proposal, which also narrowly passed the state Senate and was introduced in the Assembly this week, has attracted sharper opposition. A spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis indicated this week that the governor is less than enthused about the bill.
"He hasn't taken a formal position on it yet," said spokesman Russell Lopez, but believes "a previous [needle exchange] bill that he signed early in his administration is adequate."
Lopez was speaking of SB1785. He said he was not aware of the measure endorsed by Sinunu, but that the same rationale may end up applying to both.
Sinunu is aware of the political hurdles the measure faces but said she is determined to keep trying. "Law enforcement," she complained, "is putting their nose into a public health issue."
Craiq Anderson
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