March 4, 2009

Texas Senate OKs Needle-Exchange Program

The Health and Human Services Committee of the Texas Senate passed a law to protect needle-exchange programs operated by local health departments, The Associated Press reports.

The proposal would prevent district attorneys from prosecuting state-sanctioned health programs that allow intravenous drug users to trade out dirty syringes for clean ones. “There has been much critical evidence to show that it decreases HIV and hepatitis in those communities,” said Republican Senator Robert Deuell, a Greenville physician who introduced the bill.

“[It] alleviates a lot of human suffering,” Deuell continued, “but it also saves states money because the people who contract HIV and hepatitis, more often than not, end up having state programs or services.” The Texas Department of State Health Services has predicted that 100 new cases of HIV could be prevented in the first year of implementing a needle-exchange program.

The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy has published research against needle-exchange programs, saying they do not change or address the behavior that leads to the spread of HIV. However, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that such programs don’t encourage drug use and do decrease the spread of HIV and encourage users to seek treatment.

Search: Texas, needle-exchange, Health and Human Services Committee, Robert Deuell, Office of National Drug Control Policy

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