Pennsylvania Allows Syringe Sales Without Prescription, Effective Immediately!

Originally Posted by :
Responding to years of agitation by harm reductionists and public health advocates, the Pennsylvania Board of Pharmacy Saturday published new regulations that will allow pharmacies to sell syringes without a prescription. The change goes into effect immediately. The move was lauded by activists as a significant public health victory in the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C via injection drug use.

Under previous regulations, pharmacies could sell syringes only to people who obtained a doctor's prescription. The new regulations carry no limit on the number of syringes that can be purchased at a time, nor do they have age limits.

"This change is particularly important in Pennsylvania because we have only two locations -- Pittsburgh and Philadelphia -- in which legally authorized syringe exchange programs operate," said David Webber, an attorney for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. "These two programs alone are simply not adequate to address this problem across the entire state, but syringe exchange programs continue to be crucial in providing sterile syringes as well as access to drug treatment and health care for injection drug users."

"This is a chance for every pharmacy to become part of HIV prevention in Pennsylvania," said Scott Burris, professor at Temple University's School of Law and a national authority on syringe regulation and HIV prevention. "The pharmacy board has taken an important step forward for evidence-based policy."

It didn't come swiftly or easily. Activist organizations including the Pennsylvania Aids Law Project, Prevention Point Pittsburgh, Prevention Point Philadelphia, as well as legislators, HIV workers, and others had lobbied for the change for a decade. An article in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal cited several efforts:

In 2002, a group called the Pennsylvania Coalition for Responsible Syringe Policy asked the Pharmacy Board to consider deregulation.

In 2005, another group called Pennsylvanians for the Deregulation of Syringe Sales filed a formal petition to the Board, and met with legislators and officials in the Rendell Administration.
In 2007, the the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association endorsed syringe deregulation and asked the Pharmacy Board to move swiftly on it.
Robert Field, organizer of Pennsylvanians for the Deregulation of Syringe Sales and co-chair of the Lancaster-based Common Sense for Drug Policy, told the Intelligencer Journal he looked at syringe deregulation after efforts to start a syringe exchange program in Reading met with opposition. The board responded in August 2007, proposing new regulations allowing for over-the-counter syringe sales and opening them up for public comment. Thanks to concerns expressed by harm reduction and public health groups during the comment period, the board removed age and quantity restrictions.

The board heard a number of concerns from the Pennsylvania Medical Society that the rule change would increase drug use. But research won the day. "Studies indicate that making syringes available will reduce the spread of HIV and will not lead to an increase of illicit drug use," said Field.

The board also rejected record-keeping requirements requested by the House Professional Licensure Committee, saying it "does not believe that maintaining a record and requiring individuals to provide a name or other identifying information would advance the public health and safety."

Now the number of states that do not allow syringe sales without a prescription is down to two: Delaware and New Jersey.

StopTheDrugWar.org

Drug War Chronicle

09/18/2009

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/...t_prescription
[Reply]

Finally, thats so fucked up the way it was before.

Even here in Colorado a lot of pharmacies won't sell to you without a scrip or they make you buy 100 needles. Do people and the government really want drug addicts to spread disease. Probably.
[Reply]

Good to hear, there will probably be a lot less needle sharing and re using now.
[Reply]

No surprise that Joe Biden's state of Delaware at the bottom.
[Reply]

I heard this bit of news from a friend a few days ago but wasn't sure if it was true. Glad to see confirmation.
[Reply]

Great news ppl! Glad to see that intelligent humanists in my home state have won some ground for common sense! This certainly will reduce the amount of needles being shared and re-used.
[Reply]

Every little step helps. :-)
[Reply]

Great news! As rNr said every step helps. This is great as there is a large population there, it makes more of a dent than if RI did the same thing.
[Reply]

I betcha alot of people from jersey are gonna be driving out there now :-)
[Reply]

Awesome, now onto Delaware!
[Reply]

Originally Posted by stigma:
they make you buy 100 needles. Probably.

yeah Ive had them pull that one on me here in Michigan. One place rang me up for a box of 100 and Im just glad I caught it.
[Reply]

I am trying out this today even though i can go to the exchange, but their hours are too fucked up and in bad locations. fucking horray for the lawmakers on this one.

OMFG we are headed in the right direction.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Charlie:
I betcha alot of people from jersey are gonna be driving out there now :-)

Hahaha come visit a gurl on the way. :P
[Reply]

Finally!!!!!!!
[Reply]

Still waiting for most of the east coast to catch up.... :-)

At least a few states (like PA and FL) are leading the way.
[Reply]

PA never leads the way... in anything. Am I in the twilight zone???
[Reply]

No, PA is a corrupt piece of shit with some of the most draconian laws on the book. Old state, old politics, old laws, and a common wealth status all lead to a horrifically corrupt government with little reguard for the residents of such a pivotal state of the union. It is sad as PA was once a leader in liberty but now....well Ed Rendell is our governor.

Huaca, right on. It is beyond me how so many people support this guy.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by theWorldWithin:
No, PA is a corrupt piece of shit with some of the most draconian laws on the book. Old state, old politics, old laws, and a common wealth status all lead to a horrifically corrupt government with little reguard for the residents of such a pivotal state of the union. It is sad as PA was once a leader in liberty but now....well Ed Rendell is our governor.

Huaca, right on. It is beyond me how so many people support this guy.

Well, everything you described about PA describes the state I live in, except in the state I live in the law is already the way it is in PA - you can buy syringes with needles OTC, but most pharmacies here will simply say "no" or "I need proof that you are a diabetic", whereas in other states they don't look at you twice and don't ask stupid (pointless) questions.

stardust.Hero - Most of the US is just as bad as your home state is (and mine). There are obvious exceptions, but this country is one big twilight zone if you ask me.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by stigma:
Finally, thats so fucked up the way it was before.

Even here in Colorado a lot of pharmacies won't sell to you without a scrip or they make you buy 100 needles. Do people and the government really want drug addicts to spread disease. Probably.

Of course they do in a sense as to criminalize us more duh...
[Reply]

Bloody hell, clean needles etc have been available free under the NHS for at least 15 years as long as you bring back the dirty ones & depoit them in a sharps refuse container. Even at a pharmacy I think it's about Ł2.40 for 10 x 1ml diabetic syringes
[Reply]

I had no idea you needed a script to get needles (I don't IV). That just sounds stupid. It's like needing a script to buy a pillbox.
[Reply]

Good news. I only wish it was covered more. As far as coverage in the main newspapers here, it was relegated to a few sentence paragraph in the "Briefly/City-Region" section. :-)
[Reply]

I tried it and it worked fine, however this was in philadelphia, I would like to know about some experiences in the suburbs or in the non urban areas of the state. This law is a godsend to some of us who want to keep HIV, Hep C, and other termanal illnesses.

1 point for harm reduction in the states!
[Reply]

Originally Posted by phrozen:
Good news. I only wish it was covered more. As far as coverage in the main newspapers here, it was relegated to a few sentence paragraph in the "Briefly/City-Region" section. :-)

That is why I am informing anyone I know that might be remotely interested in this law, I suggest others do the same
[Reply]