Now on sale: needles and syringes
BOSTON -- After a two-decade long fight, a new law allowing the sale of needles and syringes without prescriptions is off to a slow start.
Some local pharmacies are unfamiliar with the law, which went into effect Monday and is aimed at cutting disease transmission. And there are few designated disposal sites for used needles, mandated by the law.
Pharmacist Peter Levangie of H. L. Wardle Drug Co. on High Street in Dedham was unaware of the new law. Wardle’s had not received pamphlets from the state Department of Public Health.
"I never had anyone come in without a prescription looking for needles, and I don’t expect too many," he said.
Eaton Apothecary, a small community pharmacy on High Street in Westwood, is selling the needles over-the-counter. An Eaton pharmacist, who asked not to be identified, said the store is following the state’s new guidelines, giving DPH inserts to customers who purchase needles.
Mike DeAngelis, spokesman for CVS Pharmacies, said the chain will participate in the over-the-counter sales of needles.
"The only change in the sale of the needle is to hand out the pamphlet provided by the DPH and the age restriction, where we will comply with both," he said.
Under the new law, individuals 18 and older may legally purchase syringes and needles from a pharmacy without a prescription.
Although the public health department has issued guidelines for do’s and don’ts in using and disposing of needles and syringes, most counties in the state do not have "sharps" disposal sites for syringes.
The department Web site lists only Barnstable and Franklin counties and the city of Haverhill as having established sharps drop-off sites. The department offers numerous resources and phone numbers which offer assistance as well as four sharps mail-back services.
It took 18 years and an override of Gov. Mitt Romney’s veto this July for the bill to become law. Lawmakers had opposed the proposal, fearing it would encourage illegal drug use. Ultimately, the Legislature found worries over the spread of AIDS and hepatitis C through needle transmission outweighed their fears over illegal drug use.
"The bill is long overdue and an important measure for disease reduction in the commonwealth," said Deborah Fournier, associate director of public policy for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. "With more access to legal, clean needles, there will be less disease transmission."
Fournier said Massachusetts became the 48th state, and the last of the New England states, to repeal a law mandating needles be sold with a prescription. She said the needle program is believed to be a factor in lowering health care costs.
"Under the clean needles act, Rhode Island saw a dramatic reduction in HIV transmission related to needles," she said.
Fournier said 39 percent of the Massachusetts’ AIDS victims contracted the disease from needle-related infection; 60 percent of people carrying hepatitis C also have a needle-related infection.
"It will not only save lives, but also save money in health care, where costs run high," she said. Fournier said it costs more than $400,000 to treat an individual with HIV and with diseases such as hepatitis C. Treatments such as liver transplants are common, which can cost $300,000.