Drug users could get sterile needles from local health departments in exchange for used ones, under a bill aimed at stopping the spread of blood-borne diseases, including HIV and hepatitis. Other measures would allow students to view the Ten Commandments in public schools as part of an elective course that includes the study of religion, and protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. He removed the needle provision from a bill passed last session creating an AIDS advisory council because it threatened to block the bill.
Many people object to such legislation, arguing that it condones illegal drug use.
We should be proactive. Allowing pharmacists to choose not to dispense drugs that induce abortion could pose a conflict for members of the profession. Bills filed in both the House and Senate would allow pharmacists to decline to dispense such drugs if they have moral or religious objections to abortion. But pharmacists are legally and ethically obligated to fill valid physicians' prescriptions, said Michael A. Mone, executive director of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy. The issue could be mostly moot, since federal guidelines call for physicians to dispense the new RU-486 drug from their offices.