§ Baroness Masham of Iltonasked her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will supply disposable needles free of charge to non-drug addicts who are injecting themselves; whether they will will encourage all needle-using addicts who share needles to use bleach or another disinfectant to sterilise the needles to help stop the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis B; and whether they will increase counselling and advertising to stop addicts who at present use needles from doing so, and prevent the spread of the habit of needle use to other addicts.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Baroness Trumpington)We have been urgently considering the ways in which the spread of the infection in drug misusers can be contained. No decision has yet been taken on the possibility of changing the supply of disposable needles. The voluntary bodies SCODA and Terrence Higgings Trust have produced material for drug users and those working with them, giving advice as to how to reduce the risks of infection. Their leaflets describe how to clean injecting equipment in an emergency by the use of household bleach or other procedures. We are anxious to dissuade injecting drug misusers from continuing with risky practices. Advice to that effect already appears in advertising material produced by the Department of Health and Social Security and is an essential part of counselling offered to drug misusers. We are currently considering how to make the advice offered to drug misusers more effective.