CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Needle Exchange Project Endorsed
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The city health commission unanimously endorsed legalizing a 4-year-old illegal AIDS project that lets drug addicts trade used hypodermic needles for clean ones. Such a plan will only become legal if the state repeals a law requiring a doctor’s prescription to obtain hypodermic needles. The project, called Prevention Point, exchanges nearly 500,000 needles annually in San Francisco. Despite the state law, city officials have refrained from cracking down on the program and openly supplies it with disposal containers, cotton swabs, rubbing alcohol and condoms.
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