It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 23-11 of the General Laws entitled "Sexually Transmitted Diseases" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections:

{ADD 23-11-18. Legislative findings. -- ADD} {ADD The general assembly recognizes and declares that:

(a) The special legislative commission to study the feasibility of implementing a needle exchange program has met in accordance with 1992 joint resolution 192, and strongly recommends passage of a law enabling the department of health to implement a pilot needle exchange program for the prevention of HIV transmission among intravenous drug users; and

(b) Seventy-one percent (71%) of all AIDS cases among women are linked to injection drug use; fifty-eight percent (58%) of children with AIDS were infected through their mother who injected drugs or had sex with an IDU. In Rhode Island, the number of injection drug users has been estimated as high as eight thousand (8,000); and intravenous drug use accounts for forty-five percent (45%) of reported cases of HIV infection since 1989; and

(c) The yearly cost of a syringe exchange program is often less than the costs to treat a single person with AIDS. The lifetime medical costs for treating someone with AIDS is approximately eighty-five thousand dollars ($85,000); and

(d) Needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce HIV transmission by as much as thirty-three percent (33%), and have been successfully implemented in over twenty (20) locations in the United States, including Boulder, Colorado; New Haven, Connecticut; Honolulu, Hawaii; Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Tacoma, Washington; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Indianapolis, Indiana; and

(e) That legislation is necessary to enable the department of health to pursue additional funding from the federal government and private foundations for such a program; and the general assembly of the state of Rhode Island does hereby recognize and declare that a well designed and well monitored pilot needle exchange program should play a vital and necessary role in our larger public health effort to reduce the transmission of HIV.

(f) This act should not be misconstrued to mean that the state of Rhode Island endorses or encourages the illegal use and/or abuse of illicit or harmful substances in any form or method of transmission whatsoever. Rather, the express purpose of this act is to assist in the reduction of the transmission of life-threatening diseases, such as AIDS and HIV, through the use of contaminated needles and syringes. Moreover, it shall be the ongoing policy of the state of Rhode Island to use its considerable resources to educate its citizens about the dangers of all forms of substance abuse in any manner of transmission and to foster programs of prevention so as to reduce the incidence of substance abuse, drug addiction, AIDS/HIV, and like problems. ADD}

{ADD 23-11-19. Exchange of hypodermic needles and syringes. -- ADD} {ADD The director of the department of health shall establish a pilot program offering the free exchange of new hypodermic needles and syringes for used hypodermic needles and syringes as a means to prevent the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among intravenous drug users eighteen (18) years of age or older. Any site used in the pilot program shall make available educational materials, HIV counseling and testing, and referral services targeted to the education of AIDS transmission and drug abuse prevention and treatment. Any individual(s) who either administers or participates in said pilot program shall be immune from criminal prosecution for violating the provisions of section 21-28.5-1(11), unless the individual(s) is found to have in his or her possession hypodermic needles and syringes that are not a part of the exchange program. ADD}

SECTION 2. Section 21-28-4.04 of the General Laws in Chapter 21-28 entitled "Uniform Controlled Substances Act" is hereby amended to read as follows:

{ADD 21-28-4.04. Prohibited acts D -- Penalties -- Hypodermic instruments. -- ADD} (1) No person except a manufacturer, wholesaler, or dealer in hypodermic instruments, health care facility, practitioner, embalmer, nurse acting under the direction and supervision of a practitioner, common carrier or messenger engaged in the transportation, or employee of a hospital or laboratory acting under the direction of its superintendent or officer in immediate charge, shall at any time knowingly have or knowingly possess a hypodermic needle or syringe or any instrument or implement adapted for subcutaneous injection unless such possession be authorized by:

(a) In the case of use in the healing arts, the certificate of a practitioner which he or she may, subject to the rules and regulations of the director of health, issue to a patient under his or her immediate charge; and

(b) In the case of use in the industrial arts, the certificate of the director of health which he or she may, after appropriate investigation into the methods, techniques, and security of use, issue to the superintendent or officer in immediate charge, of the process. Certificates shall be issued in the form prescribed and furnished by the director of health and any certificate so issued may be revoked at any time by the director.

{ADD (c) In the case of use in conjunction with a pilot program for the exchange of hypodermic needles and syringes established by the department of health for the purpose of reducing the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), pursuant to section 23-11-19, the certificate of the director of health which he or she may, after appropriate investigation into the methods, techniques and security of distribution, issue to the participants of the program. Certificates shall be issued in the form prescribed and furnished by the director of health and any certificate so issued may be revoked at any time by the director. ADD}

(2) No person may sell any of the instruments specified in this section without first having obtained a license to do so from the director of health.

(a) Every sale shall be made subject to the rules and regulations of the director of health. A record shall be kept by the persons selling the syringe, needle, or instrument, which shall give the date of sale, the name and address of the purchaser, and a description of the instrument.

(b) This record shall include all such needles, syringes, or instruments received and shall at all times be open to inspection by the director of health, by the authorized agents of the director, and by the police authorities and police officers of the cities and towns.

(c) Excess, undesired, and contaminated needles, syringes, or instruments shall be destroyed subject to rules and regulations of the director of health.

(3) Any person who violates this section shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for not more than five (5) years or a fine of not more than three thousand ($3,000) dollars; and for each subsequent offense by a term of imprisonment for not more than five (5) years or a fine of not more than five thousand ($5,000) dollars. With respect to the requirements governing the possession and use of hypodermic instruments it shall be deemed a compliance with this section if the parties to the transaction have complied with the laws of the state in which they reside.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.