(San Francisco Chronicle, 2.6.1994)
The state Senate has passed a measure to allow San Francisco and
other cities to set up pilot needle-exchange programs for drug users
in an effort to counter the spread of AIDS. The bill, sent now to state
Assembly, would permit programs in California's cities if requested
by elected officials and the local health officials.
Although Governor Wilson has vetoed similiar legislations twice,
needle-exchange programs are currently operating in several Bay
Area locations under city ordinances
declaring that "the spread of Aids is a local emergency", thus
approving "the distribution of clean syringes to IV drug users as an
AIDS-prevention tool."
