Removal of legal barriers to syringe access has been identified as an important part of a comprehensive approach to reducing HIV transmission among injecting drug users (IDUs). Legal barriers include both law on the books and law on the streets, i.e., the actual practices of law enforcement...

Law plays essential roles in public health. Law defines health officials' jurisdiction, and specifies how they exercise their authority. It is a tool of public health work used to establish norms for healthy behavior. Policymakers use the law's language of rights, duties and justice in the most...