Doctors and nurses advocate for clean syringe bill

Physicians and politicians alike are constantly searching for ways to lower sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates in their area. Unfortunately, other than encouraging more education on safe sex practices, it can be difficult to know what to do to curb this health problem.

Recently, doctors and nurses in California have teamed up with AIDS and hepatitis prevention advocates to encourage Jerry Brown, Governor of California to allow pharmacies to sell sterile syringes to adults without a prescription.

"AIDS and hepatitis do not recognize county borders and thus our current policy is not nearly as effective as it should be,” said Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco. “It is imperative that the Governor signs SB 41 [bill] into law to help reduce healthcare costs to taxpayers and save lives.”

Advocates of this bill believe that it will lower HIV and other STD rates in the area without contributing to illegal drug use. Opponents claim this bill will encourage drug use by providing syringes to addicts, and that the government should not appear to be advocating this behavior.  

The California State Department of Health reports that there are 3,000 new cases of hepatitis C in the state each year caused by people who share infected syringes.