# CA Syringes and Needles - Buy at the Pharmacy



## Dtownry (Mar 9, 2013)

Thought this was interesting.  You can now buy them at the pharmacy in CA no questions asked.  If I am behind the times...I apologize.

There is even a locator for a local pharmacy.


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## Christosterone (Mar 9, 2013)

Yep, most states you can buy them OTC, although I've found target is by far easiest


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## PillarofBalance (Mar 9, 2013)

Many states do this now. No sense it making them illegal its not gonna stop people from using drugs. But it will make sure they get hep c and AIDS...

BTW did you guys know that CDC actually puts us in a higher risk category for Hep C and HIV because we are "injection drug users." Idiots...

Anyway - don't be surprised if you run into some self-righteous douche working a counter here and there.  They profile and will ask for scripts on occasion even though state law doesn't require it. They use "company policy" as their reasoning.


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## DF (Mar 9, 2013)

I've never tried buying otc.  I find ordering online just as easy & no douche factor involved.


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## Dtownry (Mar 9, 2013)

PillarofBalance said:


> Many states do this now. No sense it making them illegal its not gonna stop people from using drugs. But it will make sure they get hep c and AIDS...
> 
> BTW did you guys know that CDC actually puts us in a higher risk category for Hep C and HIV because we are "injection drug users." Idiots...
> 
> Anyway - don't be surprised if you run into some self-righteous douche working a counter here and there.  They profile and will ask for scripts on occasion even though state law doesn't require it. They use "company policy" as their reasoning.



I hope this happens, I love to fuck with people when they act like assholes.  Just like the dick that asked for my ID the other day at CVS while buying a 'gift card'.  

Thanks for the replies fellas.


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## PillarofBalance (Mar 9, 2013)

Dfeaton said:


> I've never tried buying otc.  I find ordering online just as easy & no douche factor involved.



Better prices sometimes too...


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## Dtownry (Mar 9, 2013)

update:  No go on this one fellas.  No one participates, at least nine of the big name stores.  they told me i needed a script as suspected.


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## PillarofBalance (Mar 9, 2013)

Told ya...........


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## goodfella (Mar 9, 2013)

To be honest with you, it all depends on the city and area you live in. Many pharmacies in Orange County CA wont actually do it and will say you need a prescription ect cus there so scared of loosing their job or fined even when you bring up the needle exchange act, Yet go up an hour to LA county CA, and you have no problems at all buying pins...


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## PFM (Mar 9, 2013)

It's ridiculous a junkie cannot buy syringes and stop the spread of disease. Needless to say anyone over 18 cannot buy them. I claimed I was going into diabetic shock and still could buy them. What if someone was at home dying and sent their kid to buy syringes?

I remember when my dad could write me a note to buy him cigarettes. Those days a pimp was a foul vial creature, a whore was nothing a real man would ever call a female in a song. Laws a "protect" smart ass kids from their parents smacking some sense in to them, hell a person cannot even tell another person to act right in public without it being a terrorist threat.

WTF !!!!!


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## dj920 (Mar 14, 2013)

I've tried to buy OTC a couple times and it pretty much failed (I live in IL, where you can get like a dozen w/o rx per month by law).  One time (CVS) they claimed to only have 1CC 25g syringes, and the other time (Walgreens) only 31g "insulin" needles.  Which was total bullshit, since on both occasions they had boxes of syringes and needles .2CC-1CC and 21g-31g visibly lined up against a back wall.  (And both times the pharmacists were both pretty judgmental about the whole thing, like it was drug-seeking behavior at an ER or something.)

N.b.,  I have a friend who was got syringes at CVS without a problem, but they had a compelling (true) backstory:  they were transitioning (FTM) and visiting from abroad when they lost their syringes in a luggage mixup.  The pharmacist probably just figured you can't make that shit up.  (Also, I live in the middle of the gayborhood, so the explanation was probably more plausible / sympathetic than it might be elsewhere.)


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## Dtownry (Mar 14, 2013)

It's a no go pretty much anywhere in CA even LA now.  Just FYI.  They stopped the program apparently.  You can only get 30ga insulin syringes.


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## Santaklaus (Mar 15, 2013)

I buy all my pins at Walgreens OTC... usually .70 each.  I can buy a box or I can buy 1 at a time..


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## dj920 (Mar 15, 2013)

Santaklaus said:


> I buy all my pins at Walgreens OTC... usually .70 each.  I can buy a box or I can buy 1 at a time..



Cool!  What state do you live in, though?  Laws vary...

...and even where law is on consumers' side, availability might vary based on retailer participation (as Dtownry described) --- the laws are generally worded in terms of "may distribute".  And even then, participating retailers might construct artificial barriers to sale (as I alluded to).

Don't know how many are in a box, but in IL you're limited to buying 20 at once w/o prescription.  Although, really, that's at least a quarter-cycle worth (or more like half-cycle if you use the same needle for draw and injection, which I personally don't).  The couple of times that I've bought more than a couple at a pharmacy (say, to tide over until those I've ordered online arrive), they dispense them from wherever and put them in a plastic bag.  It's odd.

[For me, ordering online has been non-problematic, and I've only ever gone to a pharmacy when out of syringes for whatever reason.   The price difference hasn't been substantial.  Also, if you want to get a "sharps" receptacle, they're hard to come by at brick-and-mortar pharmacies.]


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