Tea Time
06-19-2008, 12:31 PM
This is just absolute BULLSHIT!!! :mad: It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Texas is the *ONLY* state that does not allow any legal form of needle-exchange program. Last year, the legislation stalled a bill that would allow needle-exchange in cities across the state. Fortunately, a Senator attached legislation to allow a pilot needle-exchange program in BexarCounty (where San Antonio is located) as a rider to a major state medicaid bill - allowing it to be successfully passed.
However, the State Attorney General has now ruled that participants of this pilot needle-exchange program can be prosecuted for possession of drug paraphernalia if they are found to be in possession of syringes obtained from the pilot needle-exchange program or distributing syringes as part of the pilot needle-exchange program.
In fact, the local police and district attorney are already planning to prosecute three people who were observed distributing clean syringes as part of the needle-exchange program. If they are convicted, they could potentially spend up to one year in jail!
It is just infuriating that they are trying to circumvent this legislation and prosecute people on technicalities because they don't agree with the concept of a needle-exchange program. :mad:
I guess we'll see what happens with this case...
KXAN Austin News - State Attorney General Gives OK To Prosecute Needle-Exchange Program Participants (http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?s=8275371)
State Attorney General Gives OK To Prosecute Needle-Exchange Program Participants
Posted: May 5, 2008 09:47 PM CDT
San Antonio, Texas (AP) -- People who possess drug paraphernalia as part of a needle-exchange program can and will be prosecuted, the Texas Attorney General's Office said Monday, clearing the way for a case involving three activists who passed out clean syringes to move forward.
The office released the opinion in response to a request from state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, who asked whether participants in a pilot needle-exchange program authorized in BexarCounty would be subject to criminal prosecution.
"Participants in the program may, in the discretion of the prosecutor, be prosecuted under the Texas Controlled Substances Act," read the opinion signed by Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Wentworth said he was disappointed in the opinion and that it was not the Legislature's intent for participants to be prosecuted.
"We're not in the business of passing bills that if people follow them they would be charged with a crime," Wentworth said.
He said the Legislature would have to clear up the problem during its next session.
The opinion also noted that a needle-exchange program is an optional part of the disease-prevention pilot program authorized in BexarCounty by the Legislature in May 2007.
"If, however, Bexar County elects to include such a needle- and syringe-exchange program as part of this overall disease-prevention program, the participants in that program appear to be subject to prosecution - because the Legislature did not exempt them from such prosecution," the opinion said.
Texas is the only state that doesn't allow syringe exchange programs, which are meant to curb the spread of diseases like hepatitis and HIV among intravenous drug users.
Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed had warned local officials that the legislation doesn't shield participants from drug paraphernalia laws.
The opinion comes months after police said in January that they would seek drug paraphernalia charges against three activists who were handing out clean syringes in San Antonio.
The members of the nonprofit group Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition were cited in January when a police officer saw them parked at a corner "with several known prostitutes and drug addicts next to the vehicle." The defendants are Bill Day, a co-founder of the nonprofit group, and two board members, Mary Casey and Melissa Lujan.
Cliff Herberg, first assistant district attorney for BexarCounty, said the case against the three, who could get up to a year in jail, will now move forward.
Herberg said Reed's office was waiting for the opinion, even though he said that because they were part of the nonprofit Day, Casey and Lujan "were never covered by this legislation anyway."
"Obviously if they change the law to allow this we will follow the law," Herberg said. "That's what this has always been about. We enforce the law as written."
Wentworth said his request for an opinion was due to Reed's warnings, not the case involving the nonprofit group.
Neel Lane, an attorney with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which is representing the coalition for free, said the opinion "reached an absurd conclusion ... that the Legislature somehow may have intended to criminalize the conduct of the people who carried out the program."
Lane said Reed "has discretion not to charge these people" and that his clients will take their case to a jury if necessary.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Here is another link to an article in the Austin American Statesman Newspaper regarding this issue:
Austin American Statesman - Pilot Needle-Exchange Program Hits Roadblock (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/06/0506needle2.html)
Here is another link that shows the type of bullshit that they used to kill the state-wide needle-exchange program a year ago:
The Austin Chronicle - Needle-Exchange Bill Barely Hanging On (http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A477961)
However, the State Attorney General has now ruled that participants of this pilot needle-exchange program can be prosecuted for possession of drug paraphernalia if they are found to be in possession of syringes obtained from the pilot needle-exchange program or distributing syringes as part of the pilot needle-exchange program.
In fact, the local police and district attorney are already planning to prosecute three people who were observed distributing clean syringes as part of the needle-exchange program. If they are convicted, they could potentially spend up to one year in jail!
It is just infuriating that they are trying to circumvent this legislation and prosecute people on technicalities because they don't agree with the concept of a needle-exchange program. :mad:
I guess we'll see what happens with this case...
KXAN Austin News - State Attorney General Gives OK To Prosecute Needle-Exchange Program Participants (http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?s=8275371)
State Attorney General Gives OK To Prosecute Needle-Exchange Program Participants
Posted: May 5, 2008 09:47 PM CDT
San Antonio, Texas (AP) -- People who possess drug paraphernalia as part of a needle-exchange program can and will be prosecuted, the Texas Attorney General's Office said Monday, clearing the way for a case involving three activists who passed out clean syringes to move forward.
The office released the opinion in response to a request from state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, who asked whether participants in a pilot needle-exchange program authorized in BexarCounty would be subject to criminal prosecution.
"Participants in the program may, in the discretion of the prosecutor, be prosecuted under the Texas Controlled Substances Act," read the opinion signed by Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Wentworth said he was disappointed in the opinion and that it was not the Legislature's intent for participants to be prosecuted.
"We're not in the business of passing bills that if people follow them they would be charged with a crime," Wentworth said.
He said the Legislature would have to clear up the problem during its next session.
The opinion also noted that a needle-exchange program is an optional part of the disease-prevention pilot program authorized in BexarCounty by the Legislature in May 2007.
"If, however, Bexar County elects to include such a needle- and syringe-exchange program as part of this overall disease-prevention program, the participants in that program appear to be subject to prosecution - because the Legislature did not exempt them from such prosecution," the opinion said.
Texas is the only state that doesn't allow syringe exchange programs, which are meant to curb the spread of diseases like hepatitis and HIV among intravenous drug users.
Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed had warned local officials that the legislation doesn't shield participants from drug paraphernalia laws.
The opinion comes months after police said in January that they would seek drug paraphernalia charges against three activists who were handing out clean syringes in San Antonio.
The members of the nonprofit group Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition were cited in January when a police officer saw them parked at a corner "with several known prostitutes and drug addicts next to the vehicle." The defendants are Bill Day, a co-founder of the nonprofit group, and two board members, Mary Casey and Melissa Lujan.
Cliff Herberg, first assistant district attorney for BexarCounty, said the case against the three, who could get up to a year in jail, will now move forward.
Herberg said Reed's office was waiting for the opinion, even though he said that because they were part of the nonprofit Day, Casey and Lujan "were never covered by this legislation anyway."
"Obviously if they change the law to allow this we will follow the law," Herberg said. "That's what this has always been about. We enforce the law as written."
Wentworth said his request for an opinion was due to Reed's warnings, not the case involving the nonprofit group.
Neel Lane, an attorney with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which is representing the coalition for free, said the opinion "reached an absurd conclusion ... that the Legislature somehow may have intended to criminalize the conduct of the people who carried out the program."
Lane said Reed "has discretion not to charge these people" and that his clients will take their case to a jury if necessary.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Here is another link to an article in the Austin American Statesman Newspaper regarding this issue:
Austin American Statesman - Pilot Needle-Exchange Program Hits Roadblock (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/06/0506needle2.html)
Here is another link that shows the type of bullshit that they used to kill the state-wide needle-exchange program a year ago:
The Austin Chronicle - Needle-Exchange Bill Barely Hanging On (http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A477961)