Pubdate: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA) Copyright: 2006 New England Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis) OVERDUE PASSAGE OF NEEDLE BILL Governor Mitt Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey oppose the state Senate's passage of a bill that would legalize the purchase of hypodermic needles on the grounds that it would encourage illegal drug use. That position overlooks a larger public health issue: the spread of blood diseases such as AIDs and Hepatitis C by drug addicts who share dirty needles. Anything that can prevent the spread of deadly infectious diseases is worth doing, especially considering that intravenous drug use, widespread in all of Massachusetts, including Berkshire County, won't decline if only dirty needles are available to addicts. Remarkably, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware are the only states that have not accepted the wisdom of legislation legalizing the purchase of hypodermic needles. Mr. Romney, who is more worried about what plays in Peoria than what plays in Pittsfield these days, is sure to veto the measure, but with the bill having passed both houses by wide margins an override is likely. Romney spokesman Eric Fehnstrom told the Boston Globe that "legalizing needles is like giving matches to an arsonist." Allowing infectious diseases to spread when they can be prevented is like throwing away a fire extinguisher as a house burns to ashes. Insurance Reform Stuck In Neutral With auto insurance reform legislation all but dead again on Beacon Hill, residents can at least look forward to a projected decline in insurance rates next year, following two years of lowered rates. But while Pittsfield Democrat Andrea Nuciforo, the Senate chairman of the Financial Services Committee, says this is an argument against reform, why not institute reform before the rates skyrocket again, as they inevitably will? A good House bill that anticipates this day by deregulating the market over a five-year period may not get through the House and is doomed in the Senate anyway. As long as Webster-based insurance giant Commerce is happy and many national insurers avoid Massachusetts as if it is radioactive, the state's broken auto insurance system will be poised to bite consumers. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman