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Needle exchange, treatment and redemption

Local-control needle exchange legislation, SB 188, sounds like it's in pretty good shape from what I heard of the Texas House Public Health Committee hearing this morning. Rep. Ruth McLendon laid out the bill with an emotional story of personally going into her own district in East San Antonio to distribute needles with a volunteer group (presumably illegally!) and meeting a young man whose family she knew who later went voluntarily into drug treatment.Chairwoman Lois Kolkhorst had earlier sent the bill to a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Susan King; there's no video in the broadcast archives of their April 16 subcommittee hearing, but it sounds like it was quite a meeting. They produced a committee substitute to include the following changes:Includes a preamble written to clarify the purpose of bill (prevent disease and facilitate treatment)Bracketed the legislation to jurisdictions of 300,000 and aboveMade the bill permissive - no one will be required to have a programRequired programs to have an outreach component promoting drug treatment Kolkhorst said an editorial by Dr...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).