Colorado will soon join a majority of states in allowing the legal distribution of clean syringes in exchange for used ones to help combat communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. A bill authored by Sen. Pat Steadman and passed by the Senate in April passed its final hurdle May 6 when the Colorado House of Representatives voted 57-6, with substantial bipartisan support, to make it law. Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to sign the legislation.

SB 189 gives local public health departments the option to set up or contract with other agencies to operate needle exchange programs without fear of violating state laws on possession of drug paraphernalia.

"We should have done this 15 or 20 years ago," said Steadman. Colorado is one of only 17 states that has not allowed such programs. Boulder County's public health department has operated a syringe exchange program for over a decade due to a local agreement with that county's district attorney not to prosecute individuals employed by the program.

In Denver, syringe exchange has been conducted by a volunteer organization without legal protection. Underground Syringe Exchange of Denver (USED) claims on its Web site that it gave out over 11,000 clean syringes to drug users while taking that many used needles off the street in 2009.

Dr. Mark Thrun, director of STD/HIV Prevention at Denver Public Health, hailed the legislation. "This is just public health common sense," he said. "Studies are solidly behind syringe exchange as a valid and effective method of reducing HIV and hepatitis C transmission." Thrun is also running for election to Colorado House District 5.

According to Mindy Barton, director of the GLBT Community Center's Legal Advocacy Project, "Both HIV and hepatitis C are easily spread by IV drug users with dirty needles and they can then pass it on to others. This will help keep family members and households from contracting these diseases."

There are 11,000 Coloradans living with HIV/AIDS. While sexual contact, especially between men, remains overwhelmingly the most common method of infection, the next largest category includes those who are both IV drug users and have unprotected sexual contacts. That combination accounted for 11.6 percent of AIDS cases in 2009, according to figures from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Supporters do not see this as leading to increased drug use, but instead to greater education on health. "Data suggests that drug use remains stable or even decreases with syringe exchange," said Thrun. "This offers an opportunity for IV drug users to interact with public health people, an opportunity to talk about health issues and get into treatment."

SB 189 sailed through Senate and House hearings with bipartisan support. "The best thing about it is that we have bipartisan support, which we've not had in the past on legislation like this," said Barton. She attributed that success to support from the medical community and to the fact that the new law leaves it up to local communities to decide if they want a program. Once signed by the governor, the law will take effect in August.