When people told me in 1997 that needle exchange would encourage drug use, I argued that the exchange program didn’t encourage drug use, it encouraged safer drug use.īut the very phrase “starter” kit says it all.
![pathological fear or needles pathological fear or needles](https://img.aws.livestrongcdn.com/ls-article-you-might-also-like/cpi.studiod.com/www_livestrong_com/photos.demandstudios.com/getty/article/99/222/187008943_XS.jpg)
As I wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle, the kit included 20 needles, plastic ties to make veins pop out, bottle caps to cook the drug, alcohol wipes, cotton swabs and a disposal device in a discrete brown paper bag.
PATHOLOGICAL FEAR OR NEEDLES FREE
I asked around and found out where I could go to get a free “starter” kit for needle exchange. Nearly two decades later, I learned San Francisco, like other progressive cities, had switched from “needle exchange” to “syringe access.” That is, there was a benefit for non-users as the exchange served to reduce the prevalence of used needles on city streets.
PATHOLOGICAL FEAR OR NEEDLES FOR FREE
Addicts received medical attention for sores and illnesses.Īlso, users gathered used needles in order to exchange them for free clean needles. There were other benefits to the program. It also may be the reason New York drug injectors have twice the rate of HIV as in San Francisco. The one-for-one dirty-for-clean exchange program is subsidized with city dollars, although a violation of state and federal laws. Pat Christen, Executive Director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation credits two factors: the city’s aggressive drug treatment of pregnant women with HIV and the local needle exchange program. SAN FRANCISCO didn’t have any reported cases of pediatric AIDS in 1995 or 1996. Take “needle exchange” - a program that has been around for decades that originally was sold as a means of preventing the spread of HIV among drug users who shared needles. And when they found out, they didn’t want to know it. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the story “inaccurate.” I think this sort of program has been operating under the radar for a while, but many informed people, even in government, just didn’t know it. According to the story, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said the kits would include pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine.” A case in point is the Washington Free Beacon story on $30 million grant for “safe smoking” kits.
![pathological fear or needles pathological fear or needles](https://ocschicago.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/specific-phobia2.jpg)
Saunders FebruGovernment Policy Originally published at SubstackĮvery well-intended public policy taken to an extreme leads to misery and dysfunction. Share Facebook Twitter Print arroba Email Chapman’s News & IdeasĬrack Pipes and Free Needles Debra J.