Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State Agency Develops Its Own Brand Of Condoms

Associated Press

Louisiana is in the condom business.

After giving away more than 10 million condoms each year, the health department of Louisiana has developed its own name brand.

The state’s free condom program - targeted at people at high risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases - has been so successful that its $500,000 annual budget is quickly exhausted.

So state officials came up with a plan: Develop a Louisiana brand with its own logo and sell them at bulk rates to motels and businesses in seedy areas.

The business can sell the Louisiana Royal condoms for 25 cents each and make a small profit. The state saves by not giving as many away.

Typically, condoms sell for about $5 to $15 per box of 12 or more.

Since 1993, Louisiana has had a free condom program, which officials here brag is among the most innovative in the country.

Dr. Tom Farley, the program’s director, credits the program for the drop in the rates for sexually transmitted diseases in Louisiana.

Gonorrhea cases are down 35 percent and syphilis cases are down 11 percent in the first two months of 1997, compared with those same months a year earlier, according to statistics compiled by the state.