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Pharmacy Syringe Purchase Test of Nonprescription Syringe Sales in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2010

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Abstract

The two main legal sources of clean needles for illicit injection drug users (IDUs) in California are syringe exchange programs (SEPs) and nonprescription syringe sales (NPSS) at pharmacies. In 2004, California became one of the last states to allow NPSS. To evaluate the implementation of NPSS and the California Disease Prevention Demonstration Project (DPDP), we conducted syringe purchase tests in San Francisco (SF) and Los Angeles (LA) between March and July of 2010. Large differences in implementation were observed in the two cities. In LA, less than one-quarter of the enrolled pharmacies sold syringes to our research assistant (RA), and none sold a single syringe. The rate of successful purchase in LA is the lowest reported in any syringe purchase test. In both sites, there was notable variation among the gauge size available, and price and quantity of syringes required for a purchase. None of the DPDP pharmacies in LA or SF provided the requisite health information. The findings suggest that more outreach needs to be conducted with pharmacists and pharmacy staff. The pharmacies' failure to disseminate the educational materials may result in missed opportunities to provide needed harm reduction information to IDUs. The varied prices and required quantities may serve as a barrier to syringe access among IDUs. Future research needs to examine reasons why pharmacies do not provide the mandated information, whether the omission of disposal options is indicative of pharmacies' reluctance to serve as disposal sites, and if the dual opt-in approach of NPSS/DPDP is a barrier to pharmacy enrollment.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Michèle Thorsen for her research assistance in San Francisco, and Patricia Case for sharing the syringe purchase protocol.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant number 1R21DA024966-01A1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Health Program, RTI International, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Alexandra Lutnick & Alex H. Kral

  2. Urban Community Research Center, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, USA

    Erin Cooper & Chaka Dodson

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Institute for Prevention Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Ricky Bluthenthal

Authors
  1. Alexandra Lutnick
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  2. Erin Cooper
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  3. Chaka Dodson
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  4. Ricky Bluthenthal
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  5. Alex H. Kral
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Lutnick.

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Lutnick, A., Cooper, E., Dodson, C. et al. Pharmacy Syringe Purchase Test of Nonprescription Syringe Sales in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2010. J Urban Health 90, 276–283 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9713-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9713-7

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