| What Are Needle Exchange Issues? |
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| In addition to sexual transmission, the most important way that HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is transmitted is by contaminated blood. It is also the most controllable. Since the discovery of the AIDS virus, testing at blood banks and by pharmaceutical houses has all but eliminated transmission by those routes. This has resulted in needle sharing by intravenous drug users (IDUs) becoming the second most common route by which AIDS is spread. In certain communities, it is becoming the most important means of transmission. |
| When one examines the details of transmission by contaminated "rigs" (needle. syringe and other equipment used by IDUs), HIV is a fragile virus, usually found in low concentration in contaminated blood. It is relatively difficult to transmit compared to other blood-borne viruses. Transmission of the AIDS virus should be relatively easy to check through simple availability of sterile needles and syringes and basic education of drug users in proper technique.In practice, this has proven true in several peer reviewed studies in the US and abroad. |
| Paraphernalia laws which make mere possession of syringes and needles without a prescription a criminal offense, work dirctly against public health and foster transmission of AIDS. The drug user who contracts HIV in this way may also transmit the virus to sex partners and family members. |
| "The cost of running a needle exchange program and treating one AIDS patient are roughly equal." |
| As with medical marijuana, enforcement of paraphernalia laws has, for all practical purposes, been left to local communities. This, in turn, has allowed effective volunteer exchange programs to function in a haphazard way around the nation. These programs rely on voluntary contributions and are, in the main underfunded. They are non-existent or opposed in many communities, so a great national need still exists. There is some recent evidence of a doctrinal reversal of government opposition. |
| "Needle exchange reduces the spread of HIV/AIDS by up to 50 percent and does not increase drug use.", Donna Shalala, Report to the Committee on Appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, "Needle Exchange Programs in America: A Review of Published Studies and Ongoing Research, February 18, 1997 |
| Many who work in the needle exchange field are concerned, however, that federal funding, if accompanied by typical unrealistic restrictions on how, when, and to whom rigs may be provided,coulda actually work against effective volunteer programs. |
| Government opposition to needle exchange has been typically moralistic and blind to reality. It continues to be based on the expressed fear that providing sterile equipmrent would signal approval of and increase drug use. Such has been disproven in study after study. In fact, the peresence of sympathetic, non-judgemental exchange workers has resulted in increased general health of addicts and users and has facilitated voluntary entry of many into treatment programs. |
| Experts in drug policy agree that opposition to needle exchange is one of the most destructive aspects of present government drug policy and one of those most amenable to improvement by harm reduction principles. |
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