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Charles Marwick

JAMA. 2000;284:1229.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Washington—Physicians need not be afraid to prescribe sterile needles for drug addicts—unless they practice in Delaware or Kansas. It's legal and they are encouraged to do it, since there is clear evidence from many studies that access to clean needles reduces the risk of transmitting HIV infection and hepatitis. Moreover, the encounter provides an opportunity for counseling and for treating other medical conditions.

The message that most physicians need not fear legal action if they prescribe sterile needles for drug addicts is the principal finding of a new survey of the legal situation in the 50 US states by the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program. The study, Harm Reduction in the Health Care System: Legal Analyses of Prescribing and Dispensing Sterile Injection Equipment, was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"In the past, physicians who wished to prescribe sterile syringes to drug addicts did not . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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