SACRAMENTO – The State Assembly has approved a bill by First District Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) that seeks to shield the public from communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

AB 1701 would make permanent the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project, which encourages injection drug users to use clean needles. The program allows participating pharmacies to sell up to 10 syringes at a time to adults without a prescription.

“This is about protecting the public and the families of addicts from contracting communicable diseases,” Chesbro said. “Injection drug use is the second leading cause of HIV transmission and the leading cause of hepatitis C virus infection in California. Sharing of contaminated syringes and other injection equipment is linked to nineteen percent of all reported AIDS cases in the state.”

The Disease Prevention Demonstration Project was created by legislation authored by then state Sen. John Vasconcellos in 2004. It went into effect on Jan. 1, 2005 and is currently set to sunset the last day of this year. AB 1701 seeks to remove that sunset and make the program permanent.

Dr. Ann Lindsay, Humboldt County’s public health officer and president of the Health Officers Association of California, said the Demonstration Project is particularly important in Humboldt County because the county’s two major needle exchanges – where addicts were able to exchange used syringes for new ones – shut down last year because of budget cuts. Currently, 11 pharmacies in Humboldt County are participating in the program.

“Studies have shown that allowing pharmacies to sell syringes without a prescription has reduced needle sharing,” said Dr. Lindsay, who testified in support of AB 1701 when the bill was heard in the Assembly Health Committee in March. “Most other states don’t restrict the sales of injection needles.”

Pharmacies may choose or not choose to participate – the program is not mandatory. Participating pharmacies are not required to register. The Demonstration Project allows only adults 18 and older to purchase syringes without a prescription, but pharmacies aren’t required to ask for identification. Minors and adults who have current subscriptions to purchase syringes are not affected by this law.

“The goal of this legislation is to encourage drug users to use new and sterile syringes,” Chesbro said. “The best way to accomplish this is to make the purchase of syringes simple and non-threatening.”